Integrity and ethics
VCU promotes research integrity and high ethical standards through adherence to the responsible conduct of research by the research community.
Questions about any aspect of research integrity are encouraged. Contact the Research Integrity and Ethics at orie@vcu.edu.
Research integrity notices
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations update
The Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (updated May 2023) were developed by the ICMJE “to review best practice and ethical standards in the conduct and reporting of research…, and to help authors, editors, and others involved in peer review and biomedical publishing create and distribute accurate, clear, reproducible, unbiased medical journal articles.” The updated recommendations may be found at www.icmje.org. The News and Editorials tab provides additional information.
Guidance and resources related to AI technology and authorship
“Authors should carefully review and edit the result because AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors should not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author. Authors should be able to assert that there is no plagiarism in their paper, including in text and images produced by the AI. Humans must ensure there is appropriate attribution of all quoted material, including full citations.” See: ICMJE - Defining the role of authors and contributors
“Generative artificial intelligence - this guide provides information for VCU students, faculty and staff on the topic of generative artificial intelligence tools so that they may assess practical and ethical issues relevant to their work within an academic setting.” See: VCU Libraries - Generative artificial intelligence
President Rao and vpri Rao's message regarding VCU ethics and integrity
A message regarding ethics and integrity for the VCU research enterprise from president Rao and vpri Rao - 9/20/2021
DHHS Office of Research Integrity infographics
DHHS Office of Research Integrity has developed a series of infographics addressing the Responsible Conduct of Research and the handling of research misconduct. Some examples are below:
Be available and approachable
Review raw data
Communicate expectations
Provide training and guidance
Know your Research Integrity Officer (RIO)
- Research trainees: what you should know about research misconduct
- You suspect research misconduct. Now what?
- What drives people to commit research misconduct?
Statement on article publication resulting from NIH-funded research
The NIH released this statement on Nov. 3, 2017, to announce that “to protect the credibility of published research, authors are encouraged to publish papers arising from NIH-funded research in reputable journals.”