The data on this page reflect the Research Integrity and Administrative Investigations Division’s allegations received, cases opened, cases closed, and outcome of cases closed for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21), which spans October 1, 2020-September 30, 2021. This page will be updated yearly.
Research Integrity and Administrative Investigations
* ‘Other’ indicates violations of non-research misconduct regulations (e.g., violations of reviewer confidentiality, human subject regulation, or matters not appropriate for investigation).
# ‘Mixed’ indicates cases that involved more than one type of allegation.
The Research Integrity and Administrative Investigations Division may refer inquiries or investigations to institutions (per NSF’s research misconduct regulation). In these cases, institutions follow their own research misconduct policies and share their reports with OIG. At the conclusions of their process, institutions may take their own actions.
OIG closes some cases with one or more warning letters. These warning letters may be sent to multiple subjects and/or to an institution.
* For FY2021, eight of NSF’s nine findings were for research misconduct cases – those involving plagiarism or data fabrication/falsification.
Where warranted, OIG sends NSF a report of investigation, which includes recommended actions. These actions can range from required training up to government-wide debarment. NSF ultimately decides whether to accept our recommendations. NSF often requires more than one action for a case in which they make a finding. In serious cases, NSF may choose to protect the government’s interests by issuing a government-wide debarment. This debarment prevents individuals or entities from participating in any government contracts, subcontracts, loans, grants, and other assistance programs for a specified period.