The results of the first national survey to investigate research integrity in India, a collaboration between National Academy of Sciences, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), and publisher Springer Nature, indicate broad support for mandatory in-person research integrity training across researcher demographics. The survey found that whilst 53% of respondents stated that their institution offered research integrity-related training, 87% felt that research integrity training provided by their institution is effective, and 62% supported mandatory training on research integrity for postgraduate students and early career researchers.
Key findings from the survey include:
• When asked to describe Research Integrity, including practices related to it, 85% of the responses focused on positive research traits, the most popular being honesty, ethics, trustworthiness, and accuracy. This is consistent with the survey findings from the UK and the USA.
• 53% of respondents stated that their institution offered research integrity-related training, though only 2 out of 3 researchers indicated that their integrity training was mandatory. Further, 70% of postgraduate students stated that they have mandatory research integrity training, while only 30% of undergraduate students take integrity training.
• Current training in India has a greater focus on foundational elements such as the importance of research integrity, authorship guidance, defining research integrity, and ethics approval. This contrasts with data-related training being sought by researchers in the UK, USA, and Australia, which aren’t higher priority for Indian researchers.
• 80% of respondents feel they can provide feedback on training materials, but 9% feel that feedback is not reviewed and implemented. 75% of STM researchers feel that training providers in India aren’t given feedback on the quality of research developed.
• For those who had access to training, 64% of Indian respondents reported that the training was mandatory. Most respondents from India agreed that training at some stage in a researcher’s career should be mandatory.
Respondents from India also indicated that they would like more training on the importance of research integrity, authorship, issues around statistics, reproducibility, and ethics approval. While these are important as indicated in the survey findings from the US, UK, and Australia, the emphasis in these geographies has been on training in management and sharing of research data.
The Indian survey was conducted between July and October 2023 as part of Springer Nature’s commitment to support good practices internationally by providing insights into research integrity training and needs. Questions were addressed to both institutional management and researchers/faculty members to deliver a baseline review of perceived levels of training in research integrity and good research practices at research institutions, including training in statistics, data management, data sharing, and mentorship. 600+ responses, including from most top institutes and universities in India, were received and analyzed.
Click here to read the original press release.
