We all have a role to play in building a culture of excellence in UBC’s research community — including through the responsible conduct of research.
We hope that the guides and information provided through this site have helped identify how and where to implement scholarly integrity practices within your research. But what should you do if you suspect that something has occurred which undermines scholarly integrity? And how can you respond if an accusation of misconduct involves your work?
You have defined rights and responsibilities either as a person reporting suspected misconduct or when responding to an accusation through UBC’s Scholarly Integrity Policy.
What is a breach of scholarly integrity?
A breach of scholarly integrity can include failure to comply with any applicable funding applications and agreements, university and other policies, standards of the relevant profession or discipline, and laws and regulations.
Scholarly misconduct can occur intentionally or as the result of an honest mistake. While the researcher’s intention does not change whether or not scholarly misconduct can be found during an investigation, it may be taken into consideration when determining any actions that result from the investigation process.
How to distinguish between scholarly and academic misconduct
The University of British Columbia distinguishes between scholarly misconduct and academic misconduct.
Academic misconduct applies to instances of a student or people engaging in, attempting to engage in or assisting others to engage in actions such as cheating, plagiarism, falsifying records or other conduct that occurs during graded assignments established by instructors for specific courses at the university. Allegations of academic misconduct are sent to the President’s Advisory Committees on Student Discipline. These committees are responsible for determining whether misconduct has occurred. The committees' findings are reported to the president, who is responsible for decisions about discipline or other consequences.
Scholarly misconduct, by comparison, involves some of the same behaviours (e.g. plagiarism, fabricating research data), and could involve others ( e.g. misuse of grant funds, undeclared conflicts of interest or inappropriate authorship). The distinction between academic and scholarly misconduct is generally made based on whether the work in question is intended for publication. For example, an instance of a student's paper containing plagiarized material but which was not intended for publication would be considered by the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline. However, if that same paper was published or going to be published, then it would trigger an investigation under the Scholarly Integrity Policy.
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Who to talk to
The investigations process
The VPRI will treat all complaints or allegations made in good faith confidentially and with the utmost care.
Once a complaint or allegation is received, the Vice-President, Research and Innovation will first inquire as to whether or not the allegations are responsible and may warrant an investigation. From there, they may initiate a defined procedure as set out by the Scholarly Integrity Policy. This procedure is designed to remain fair to parties involved in an investigation and to protect the rights of both complainants and respondents.
UBC's Scholarly Integrity Policy