Co-authored by Dr. Lyric Jorgenson, NIH Associate Director for Science Policy; Dr. Nina Schor, NIH Deputy Director for Intramural Research, Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research; and Dr. Alfred Johnson, NIH Deputy Director for Management. Originally posted on the Under the Poliscope blog.
Last year, NIH put out a call for public comments on its Draft Scientific Integrity Policy. We received responses with thoughtful comments from a variety of communities. As leaders of some of the NIH offices that have a critical role to play in supporting scientific integrity, we are proud to announce that the Final NIH Scientific Integrity Policy is now available!
The final policy incorporates and is responsive to the principles and directives of the Presidential Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking, Protecting the Integrity of Government Science, and A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice. The end goal of these efforts was to institutionalize a culture of scientific integrity across the federal government by requiring that agencies either develop or update their existing policies.
As you are most likely aware, NIH has for many years been a leader in promoting practices, policies, and procedures that help ensure the research it funds and conducts is done in accordance with the highest possible standards. We already have in place a suite of complementary efforts to protect the integrity of research processes from bias and interference. These efforts rely on transparent processes, diverse community engagement, management of real or apparent conflicts of interest, and robust and open dialogue.
However, we did see opportunities where we could strengthen our existing system. These areas are articulated in the final policy and include:
- Defining the term “scientific integrity” for consistent use across the U.S. Government
- Establishing the new positions of NIH Chief Scientist and NIH Scientific Integrity Official and defining the roles and responsibilities of these positions
- Establishing the NIH Scientific Integrity Council to coordinate scientific integrity activities across the Agency; and
- Adding additional protections against inappropriate political interference
The above measures, in concert with NIH’s existing policies and procedures, will foster scientific integrity, by helping to ensure that (1) research findings are objective, credible, and readily available to the public, and (2) policies and programs are developed and implemented in a transparent, accountable, and evidence-based manner.
It is vital to recognize that the final policy is grounded in the philosophy that all NIH staff, and everyone within the biomedical research enterprise. have a role to play in supporting the integrity of the research we fund, conduct, manage, communicate, or use. As such, all NIH researchers and staff are expected to:
- Foster an organizational culture of scientific integrity.
- Protect the integrity of the research process, and
- Communicate science with integrity.
The Final NIH Scientific Integrity Policy will go into effect December 30, 2024. To ensure that NIH stays a leader in this space, we will reevaluate the policy one year after the effective date and then every two years after that.
Finally, to mark this occasion, Dr. Monica Bertganolli has issued a NIH Director’s statement which can be found at https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/ensuring-trust-science-nih-s-commitment-scientific-integrity.
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