Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A UK university publishing its annual statement against the Concordat's five commitments and completing UKRIO's Self-Assessment Tool as part of its ongoing signatory obligations.
- Is an instance
A UK research funder listing Concordat signatory status among the eligibility conditions it applies to host institutions before releasing grant funding.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A US institution's internal Research Integrity Officer policy operating under 42 CFR Part 93 — a different national framework with no signatory relationship to the UK Concordat.
Editorial commentary
The Concordat to Support Research Integrity is the UK’s sector-wide framework document for research integrity. First published by Universities UK in 2012, it was substantially revised in 2019 and refreshed again in 2025 following a sector-wide consultation (published 4 April 2025, with organisations expected to align by April 2026). UK universities, funders, and sector bodies formally sign up to it as named signatories, distinguishing it from a voluntary code of conduct that individual institutions simply choose to follow informally.
The five commitments
The Concordat is built around five thematic commitments that signatory organisations agree to uphold and be accountable for:
- Maintaining the highest standards of rigour and integrity in all aspects of research, grounded in the underpinning principles of honesty, rigour, transparency and open communication, care and respect, and accountability.
- Ensuring research is conducted according to appropriate ethical, legal, and professional frameworks, obligations, and standards, and meeting the expectations these place on researchers and institutions.
- Supporting a research environment underpinned by a culture of integrity, built on good governance, best practice, and active support for researcher development.
- Using transparent, robust, and fair processes to address allegations of research misconduct and questionable research practices when they arise.
- Working together to strengthen the integrity of research and to review progress regularly and openly, including public reporting against the commitments.
Who signs it, and what signing means
Signatories span UK universities and research institutions, government departments and public bodies, UK research funders (including bodies within UK Research and Innovation), charitable funders, sector representative bodies, and the national academies. Signing the Concordat is a standing commitment, not a one-off attestation: signatory organisations are expected to publish an annual statement setting out how they have acted on each commitment, and to make that statement publicly available. For many UK funders, an institution’s status as a Concordat signatory is itself a condition attached to eligibility for research funding, which is why the document functions less like guidance and more like sector-level governance infrastructure.
UKRIO’s role
The UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) is not the author of the Concordat, but it has contributed substantively to all three editions and holds an Observer seat on the Signatories Group that stewards the document. UKRIO also publishes a Self-Assessment Tool that institutions can use to evaluate and evidence their own compliance against each of the five commitments, and offers advisory support to organisations working to embed the Concordat’s requirements into their internal policies and governance structures. This complements, rather than duplicates, UKRIO’s separate role providing confidential advice on individual research integrity queries.
How it relates to other UK and international frameworks
The Concordat to Support Research Integrity should not be confused with two similarly named documents. The Researcher Development Concordat is a separate UK sector agreement focused on researchers’ employment conditions and career development, not on integrity or misconduct. The Concordat on Open Research Data is likewise a distinct, narrower document addressing open data practice specifically. Internationally, the Concordat sits alongside — and draws on the same normative foundations as — global statements such as the Singapore Statement on Research Integrity (2010), but the Concordat is a UK-specific, signed sector commitment with reporting obligations, whereas the Singapore Statement is a non-binding international consensus statement of principles with no signatory or reporting mechanism of its own.
References
- Universities UK, “The Concordat to Support Research Integrity”
- UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO), “The Concordat to Support Research Integrity”
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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