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Survey on research integrity in Ireland 2025

Let’s shape the future of research practice in Ireland together

The Survey on Research Integrity in Ireland 2025 (SRII2025) sought opinion on what supports or challenges researchers in doing responsible research. This input will help shape better policies and strengthen a culture of integrity across the Irish research community.

This survey is funded by the HEA

What the survey is about

As researchers across all disciplines, we understand how much the world relies on the results of our work. That’s why it’s so important for us to have a say in how our research is conducted and governed.

Researchers must be able to work in an open environment where they feel supported to be responsible and accountable. Science and scholarship can only develop further if people can safely share concerns about research dilemmas and discuss errors made.

The Survey on Research Integrity in Ireland 2025 (SRII2025) is the first-ever nationwide online survey targeting researchers in all universities, research institutes, institutes of higher education and the public sector in Ireland who are signatories of the National Policy Statement on Ensuring Integrity in Irish Research. It spans all academic disciplines, including interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary research, and includes both employed (contract or full-time) and adjunct researchers and those working in research in public sector institutions in Ireland. This survey is funded by the Higher Education Authority.

Why is this survey important?

01.

Research environments are often complex and competitive.

Competition can stimulate people to work hard, but it may also have downsides. While we strive to do our best as researchers, the challenges are many; related to norms and behaviours, open science practices, competitiveness and work pressure that can have an effect (both positive and negative) on the way we conduct research.

02.

Shedding light on research integrity and culture

We still know so little about precisely why and how often issues with maintaining research integrity occur, what an ideal research environment looks like or what working conditions encourage or hinder integrity. The current data just isn’t enough, and we need better data on these complex issues.

03.

Your voice matters in shaping responsible research

Gathering the data that can help to foster responsible research and prevent unacceptable practices is crucial for us as researchers and for Irish society. This is an opportunity to help us to keep things moving in the right direction so that research can continue to have a positive societal impact.

04.

Contributing to evidence-based change in research

The SRII2025 is one of the best ways to help us make evidence-based recommendations and policies about conducting research with integrity. The SRII2025 was created by the research community for the benefit of the research community.

What else would you like to know?

Who is funding this survey?

Funding for this survey is provided by the Higher Education Authority. The funding is being managed by University College Dublin on behalf of the National Research Integrity Forum.

Why is the SRII2025 important for Ireland?

Research affects us all every day. From the many technologies we use to make our lives easier, to the delivery of healthcare and education, to helping us understand ourselves and our world. Research is the foundation on which our society is built. Trust that research integrity underpins this foundation is crucial for Irish society, especially since new research is built on past work.

Good research practices that embrace research integrity ensure the quality and reliability of research, the credibility of researchers and research outputs among their peers, the protection of the research record on which knowledge is built, and the maintenance of public trust in the research system.

Ireland has made great strides in enhancing awareness of the importance of research integrity through the activities of the National Research Integrity Forum (NRIF) and support for the EPIGEUM national online training platform. But we can always do better.

Why is this survey unique?

The SRII2025 aims to provide valid, discipline-specific estimates of responsible research practices and unacceptable research practices in the biomedical sciences, humanities, natural sciences and engineering, social and behavioural sciences, as well as in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research.
The SRII2025 targets the entire population of academic and public sector researchers in Ireland; the first time this has been done.
The SRII2025 is entirely anonymous. We want you to feel confident that you can answer all questions honestly.
The SRII2025 will examine a broad range of factors that may impact scholars’ engagement in responsible research practices and questionable research practices.

How will your data be used?

The legal basis for processing your information is based on your consent and that it is in the public interest. Anonymous data collected through this survey by a trusted third party (evasys ltd) will be used to assess the factors that help or hinder responsible research practices in Ireland. The findings will also be compared to the results of the Dutch National Survey of Research Integrity, conducted in 2020 using the same questionnaire, to better understand the impact of local environments on research behaviour.

How will your privacy be protected?

All responses to this survey will be collected via an anonymous link on a dedicated website (www.SRII2025.ie). You will not be required to provide your name, contact details, or institution, and your IP address will not be collected as part of your response. Only an anonymised dataset will be provided to the research team for analysis. Because a trusted third party (evasys ltd) is collecting anonymous responses, no one will ever be able to identify your data. All data collected in this survey will be held securely at UCD, with only aggregate results retained for long-term progress tracking. Findings will be published only in aggregate. This survey does not ask any open-ended questions, which might unintentionally identify you.

If you have any further questions, you can contact the research team at: info@srii2025.ie or the UCD Office of the DPO at: gdpr@ucd.ie

What will the research team report on?

The Survey on Research Integrity in Ireland 2025 (SRII2025) is the first-ever nationwide online survey targeting researchers in all universities, institutes of higher education and the public sector in Ireland who are signatories of the National Policy Statement on Ensuring Integrity in Irish Research.

The SRII2025 aims to report on factors that promote or hinder Responsible Research Practices (RRPs). The survey data will allow us to assess the relative influence of elements that drive good and poor behaviours and whether these depend on academic and support structures, research discipline and career stage. The SRII2025 is designed to be large enough to look separately at these subgroups.

The survey will also report on the prevalence of RRPs, Unacceptable Research Practices (URPs) and research misconduct (defined as falsification, fabrication and plagiarism) nationally. Because of its anonymity and nationwide targeting of researchers across all disciplinary fields and career stages, the SRII2025 can provide solid data to identify driving factors that promote or hinder RRP.

How can you find out what happens with this project?

The SRII2025 aims to be as open as possible so that you can see the results of your efforts. The findings from this survey will be documented in a report published on the NRIF website (https://www.iua.ie/for-researchers/research-integrity/) and the SRII2025 website (www.srii2025.ie). The findings will also be published in Open-Access journals and on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/).

In addition, journal publications and highlights of the survey results will be widely communicated via social media channels.

Who is conducting the survey?

A trusted third party evasys ltd is conducting the survey on behalf of the National Research Integrity Forum. The survey is wholly anonymous; the evasys database does not and can not identify anyone who responds to the survey – no identifying data whatsoever is captured or stored. An International Advisory Group of experts in survey design and conduct will ensure the validity of the data analysis and interpretation:

UCD Research Team

Dr Maura Hiney (Adjunct Professor, UCD Institute for Discovery, Principal Investigator)
Prof Grace Mulcahy (School of Veterinary Medicine)
Dr Sonya Deschenes (Ad Astra Fellow, School of Psychology)
Dr Colleen Thomas ( UCD HR Culture and Engagement)
Ms Gill Boyle (UCD Research)
Dr Hugh Fulham-McQuillan (School of Psychology)

NRIF Task Group

Dr Maura Hiney (UCD, Chair)
Dr Jennings (TUD and Chair IUA VPDoR)
Dr Emer Cunningham (UCD)
Dr Catherine Gill (Health Research Board)
Dr Steven Meaney (TUD)
Ms Fiona Brennan (DCU)
Ms Gillian Boyle (UCD)
Prof Geraldine Canny (SETU)
Dr Sean Lacey (MTU)

International Advisory Group

Prof Anita Maguire (University College Cork, Chair)
Prof Lex Bouter (Medical University of Amsterdam and PI of the Dutch NRIS)
Dr Gowri Gopolakrishna (Key researcher on the NRIS and member of the Cypriot Survey Advisory Board)
Prof Nick Allum (University of Essex and PI of the International Research Integrity Survey[1])

Thank you for taking the time to read the information on this page.

If you have any further questions about the SRII2025, please contact us at info@srii2025.ie