UUK Concordat on Research Integrity

Research activity is one of the key purposes of Universities, leading to public outcomes and subject to peer review. While extensive statutory and regulatory standards exist to govern research practice where it is deemed necessary (e.g. Clinical Trials, Data Protection), more generally research is governed by institutional policies based on established practices, methodologies and principles. Some sets of principles are also grouped into “Concordats”, official agreements, which might be either voluntary or a requirement to gain access to funding.

In the UK there are a number of voluntary Concordats establishing guiding principles in disparate areas of research activity (see Appendix, detailing other Research Concordats). However, since 2013/14, compliance with the UUK Concordat on Research Integrity (the Concordat) has become a compulsory requirement to obtain research funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

Compliance with the Concordat has also become one of the conditions of funding from a variety of funding bodies, including the UK Research Councils (UKRC), the Wellcome Trust and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).