Undue foreign influence

The exertion of pressure, control, or hidden incentives by a foreign government or its proxies that distorts research conduct, integrity, or outputs to advance the interests of that foreign state at the expense of the funding country, host institution, or scientific community.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

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Worked examples

Is an instance

A government-funded researcher fails to disclose a paid foreign appointment with intellectual property transfer obligations; investigators conclude undue foreign influence occurred.

Is an instance

A reviewer recuses themselves after identifying undisclosed obligations to a foreign sponsor of a proposal under review.

Undue foreign influence is distinguished from legitimate international collaboration by the presence of undisclosed obligations, duplicative or hidden affiliations, intellectual property transfer outside normal channels, or conduct that compromises peer review, awards, or publishing. Policy responses focus on transparency-by-disclosure rather than prohibition of foreign engagement. Detection typically combines self-disclosure, peer reporting, and structured risk review of international activities.

References

NSPM-33 (2021); JASON Report on Fundamental Research Security (2019).

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Undue foreign influence"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/undue-foreign-influence" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/undue-foreign-influence",
  "name": "Undue foreign influence",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/undue-foreign-influence",
  "description": "The exertion of pressure, control, or hidden incentives by a foreign government or its proxies that distorts research conduct, integrity, or outputs to advance the interests of that foreign state at the expense of the funding country, host institution, or scientific community.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-security#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/undue-foreign-influence",
  "sameAs": [
    "malign foreign influence",
    "improper foreign influence"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:53",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}