Fabrication

• Making up data, source material, methodologies or findings, including graphs and images.

Falsification

• Manipulating, changing or leaving out data, source material, methodologies or findings including graphs or images, with appropriate acknowledgment such that the research record is not accurately represented

Destruction of research data or records

• The destruction of one’s own or another’s research data or records or in contravention of the applicable funding agreement, institutional policy and/or laws, regulations and professional or disciplinary standards. This also includes the destruction of data or records to avoid the detection of wrongdoing.

Plagiarism

• Presenting and using another’s published or unpublished work, including theories, concepts, data, source material, methodologies or findings, including graphs and images, as one’s own, without appropriate referencing and, if required, without permission.

Redundant publication or self-plagiarism

• The re-publication of one’s own previously published work or part thereof, including data, in any language, without adequate acknowledgment of the source, or justification.

Invalid authorship

• Inaccurate attribution of authorship, including attribution of authorship to persons other than those who have made a substantial contribution to, and who accept responsibility for, the contents, of a publication or document.

Inadequate Acknowledgement

• Failure to appropriately recognize contributors.

Mismanagement of Conflict of Interest

• Failure to appropriately identify and address any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest, in accordance with the Institution’s policy on conflict of interest in research, preventing one or more of the objectives of the RCR Framework (Article 1.3) from being met.

Failure to comply with applicable policies, laws or regulations for the conduct of research including but not limited to

• Tri-Agency policies or requirements;
• Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans - TCPS 2 (2018);
• Canadian Council on Animal Care Policies and Guidelines;
• Impact Assessment Act and applicable environmental protection legislation;
• Licenses for research in the field (ie National Parks, Nunuvut)
• Laboratory Biosafety Guidelines;
• Controlled Goods Program;
• Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) Regulations;
• Canada’s Food and Drugs Act;
• All applicable University Policies.

Misrepresentation in a funding application or related document

• Providing incomplete, inaccurate or false information in a grant or award application or related document, such as a letter of support or a progress report.
• Applying for and/or holding an Agency award when deemed ineligible by CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC, or any other research funding organization world-wide for reasons of breach of responsible conduct of research policies such as ethics, integrity or financial management policies.
• Listing of co-applicants, collaborators or partners without their agreement.

Mismanagement of Grants or Award Funds

• Using grant or award funds for purposes inconsistent with the policies of the granting agency;
• misappropriating grants and award funds; contravening Agency financial policies, namely the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration, Agency grants and awards guides; or
• Providing incomplete, inaccurate or false information on documentation for expenditures from grant or award accounts.

Breach of Tri-Agency Review Processes

• Non-compliance with the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy of the Federal Research Funding Organizations.
• Participating in an Agency review process while under investigation.
  • Participants in agency review processes confirm that they are not currently under investigation for an alleged breach of the RCR Framework or any other responsible conduct of research policies such as ethics, integrity or financial management policies. If participants find themselves under investigation, they must temporarily withdraw themselves from participation in any Agency review process until the investigation is complete and a determination is made by the Agency whether they can resume their participation.