The Concordat to Support Research Integrity

About the concordat 

The Concordat to Support Research Integrity, otherwise known as the Research Integrity Concordat, aims to provide a national framework for good research conduct and its governance. It makes sure government, business, international partners and the public can continue to have confidence in UK research and its world-leading researchers.

Latest version

The revised Concordat to Support Research Integrity, published on 25 October 2019, is an updated version of the first concordat published in 2012. The concordat responds to recommendations set out in the Science and Technology Committee's report on research integrity, published in July 2018.

2024 review of the Concordat to Support Research Integrity

The Concordat is now due to undergo its five-year review in which the content of the Concordat will be updated and revised. The Signatories Group would like to thank the sector for the responses received for our online survey on revising the concordat. There's a lot of rich information included in the responses, which we are going through in detail. Thank you for providing your experience of using the Concordat, your insight on how it has impacted your organisation, and how it could be revised to better support high integrity across the system.

For more information about the consultation process, including next steps, the Signatories Group have developed some FAQs for the survey.

Template: annual statement on research integrity

This template provides guidance on how to complete an annual statement for the Concordat to Support Research Integrity. This template is being introduced as a pilot from November 2022, which will be reviewed after a year.

The Concordat to Support Research Integrity sets out five fundamental commitments to support good research practice and a healthy research culture. The fifth commitment requires employers of researchers to produce a short annual statement setting out what work they have undertaken to support research integrity, activities to foster good research practice, as well as policies, processes and actions to address any concerns about research conducted.

Produced on behalf of the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories Group by the UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO), the template provides guidance on how to complete an annual statement. The template is intended to be flexible for use across different disciplines and size of organisation. Some organisations may be able to complete the statement more fully than others. All organisations are asked to use the boxes as it enables a sector-wide analysis to identify trends in policies and practice.

Submission

Once approved by the organisation, the annual narrative statement should be:

1. published on the organisation’s website alongside previous annual narrative statements, and/or alongside relevant policies relating to research integrity
2. submitted to Universities UK as the secretariat of the Concordat: [email protected]. This could be submitted as a copy of the statement, or a link to the published statement online.

Piloting

This template was introduced in November 2022 on a pilot basis. The template is not currently mandatory. However, organisations are encouraged to use it to support consistency for sector-wide analysis. The Research Integrity Concordat Signatories Group plan to review the pilot after one year. 

If you have difficulty accessing the template, or would like to give feedback on it, please contact [email protected].

The Research Integrity Concordat Signatories Group and UKRIO would like to thank those who gave valuable reviews on the initial consultation draft circulated by UKRIO.

Annual statement 2023

This annual statement gives a summary of activities from the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories Group for 2023.

It also includes a review of the annual statements organisations submitted as part of their commitment to the concordat. 

You can also download the annual statement for 2022.

Get in touch 

If you have any questions about the Concordat to Support Research Integrity, please email [email protected]