Office of Research Compliance

Research Misconduct

The University of Maine is committed to fostering an environment in which the highest ethical standards in the conduct of research and other scholarly activities are expected. The primary responsibility for maintaining such standards of honesty in the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge rests with the faculty, collaborating staff members, and students. Any individual who is found guilty of willful ‘misconduct’ as defined below is subject to disciplinary action by the University of Maine.

What is Research Misconduct?

‘Misconduct’ or ‘Misconduct in Research and Other Scholarly Activities’ means fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or other practices that seriously deviate from those that are commonly accepted within the scholarly community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research and other scholarly activities. It does not include honest error or honest differences in interpretations or judgments of data.

The Office of Research Integrity (ORI), defines the following terms in relation to research misconduct:

• Fabrication: Making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
• Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.
• Plagiarism: The appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.