This exploratory study will investigate challenges to the U.S. federal paradigm of research integrity in international research collaborations, as experienced and observed by NIH-supported scientists. Life-science research done outside the U.S. is subject to different standards of integrity oversight - some looser, some stricter, some simply different - and there is no international body or system by which problems and situations related to research integrity can be reviewed and addressed. The objective of this project is to provide empirical evidence on the variety, prevalence and impact of behaviors, situations and conditions in cross-national collaborations that either compromise or promote integrity in health research. The project is designed to extend three dimensions of current knowledge about integrity from the U.S. to the international context: a) the meaning and enactment of integrity in scientific research, b) its relationship to characteristics of research collaborations, and c) its relationship to characteristics of the broader research environment. Data will be collected through a series of 8 focus-group discussions with approximately 80 biomedical scientists who have experience in international research collaborations and 10 interviews with research administrators at top NIH-funded research universities. The focus groups and interviews will yield information about the range and forms of challenges to integrity that scientists have encountered or observed in cross-national research. Further data will be collected through a national survey of 6,000 NIH supported scientists. The survey will yield estimates of the prevalence and impacts of integrity issues in international collaborations, as well as assessments of the associations between research integrity and aspects of collaborations and the research environment. This research will investigate challenges to the U.S. federal paradigm of research integrity in international research collaborations, as experienced and observed by NIH-supported scientists. It will provide empirical evidence on the varieties and prevalence of behaviors, situations and conditions in cross-national collaborations that either compromise or promote integrity in health research. It will address the complications introduced by the expansion of international health-science research across countries with different interpretations and oversight of research integrity.
