COMMENT OPPORTUNITY: NIH Scientific Integrity Policy

[Laura Bies]

The National Institutes of Health is soliciting comments and suggestions from the public on the draft “Scientific Integrity Policy of the National Institutes of Health,” which codifies NIH's long-standing expectations to preserve scientific integrity throughout all NIH activities, establishes key roles and responsibilities for those who will lead the agency's scientific integrity program, and, as appropriate, establishes relevant reporting and evaluation mechanisms.

Previously, in 2012, NIH released "Policies and Procedures for Promoting Scientific Integrity Report" outlining the agency's role in fostering scientific integrity as a funder of research, a research institution, and a policy development agency. In 2021, the White House released its Presidential Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking, which requires NIH and other federal agencies to update their scientific integrity policies as appropriate to ensure agency alignment with the principles set forth therein and in Protecting the Integrity of Government Science, a report of the Scientific Integrity Fast- Track Action Committee of the National Science and Technology Council, and A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice, a guidance document released by the Scientific Integrity Framework Interagency Working Group of the NSTC.

The newly released draft NIH Scientific Integrity Policy articulates the procedures and processes now in place at NIH that help maintain rigorous scientific integrity practices and proposes several new functions to further enhance scientific integrity at NIH and throughout the NIH biomedical research enterprise.

Comments will be accepted through Nov. 9.