IAFNS’s Core Values:
Scientific integrity and transparency are core values of IAFNS.
We bring scientific experts and leaders together to catalyze science for confident decision-making by all sectors. IAFNS believes researchers from the public and private sectors can and should work together on science and public health issues. Public-private collaboration - where all interests are declared and all funding is acknowledged - can advance science for public benefit.
IAFNS has earned the 2024 Platinum Seal of Transparency! View our Candid nonprofit profile.
Integrity in Science - It's Who We Are
Scientific integrity is essential to advancing credible science for the purpose of improving society. IAFNS is a recognized leader in addressing issues of scientific integrity, research public-private partnerships, and conflict of interest through our work with federal agencies and scientific professional societies. We are proud of our extensive programs on scientific integrity, and we integrate scientific integrity into every step of our research programs.
Assembly on Scientific Integrity
The Assembly on Scientific Integrity includes the IAFNS Board of Trustees, IAFNS Scientific Leadership Council, and all IAFNS members from government, industry, and academia. With representation from all three sectors of our membership, the Assembly is active in ensuring IAFNS achieves and promotes the highest standards of scientific integrity.
View the Assembly’s current and recent projects and efforts.
Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines
The Center for Open Science's Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines provide actionable steps for institutions to practice and promote transparent, reproducible, and rigorous research. IAFNS is a TOP Guidelines signatory. As a signatory, IAFNS supports the principles expressed in the guidelines and supports the implementation of these principles by our funded researchers. All new projects moving forward will work to adhere to the TOP Guidelines.
Our commitment to transparency is evidenced by our establishment a Collection page on the Open Science Framework. The IAFNS Collection aggregates all IAFNS-supported research projects that are registered on the Open Science Framework in one place. It provides greater visibility of the breadth and rigor of research that has been undertaken by the investigators we support, and allows the scientific community to more easily discover our work.
Overview of IAFNS Process to Address Scientific Integrity in Funded Projects
To ensure the highest level of scientific integrity and transparency, all investigators funded through IAFNS are required to adhere to the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines and the Guiding Principles for Funding of Food and Nutrition Research. However, should an issue of scientific misconduct arise during an IAFNS funded project, the following steps will occur:
- IAFNS will rely on the institution in which the research is being conducted to detect and address research misconduct
- Research misconduct includes but is not limited to fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, and any other practice that seriously deviates from practices commonly accepted in the academic and research community.
- The Institution will promptly report in writing to IAFNS all incidents of research misconduct by researchers during the Project.
- If IAFNS determines that any individual employed by or contracted for by the Institution has engaged in Research Misconduct in the course of the Project, IAFNS may, in its sole discretion, end the project.
Additional Resources for Scientific Integrity
Want to report an issue of research misconduct? Please email IAFNS at integrity@iafns.org
- Note: IAFNS does not investigate reports of scientific integrity independently. The appropriate institution will be contacted after receiving the inquiry.
Additionally, please refer to resources below for additional information and support on scientific integrity or research conduct:
- Research Integrity: https://grants.nih.gov/policy/research_integrity/index.htm
- Best Practices for Ensuring Scientific Integrity and Preventing Misconduct: https://www.oecd.org/science/inno/40188303.pdf
- Guidelines for the Responsible Conduct of Research: Ethics and the Publication Process: https://www.asha.org/policy/gl2009-00308/
Publications
Update on “A Partnership for Public Health: USDA Global Branded Food Products Database”
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 2022
An Updated Framework for Industry Funding of Food and Nutrition Research: Managing Financial Conflicts and Scientific Integrity
The Journal of Nutrition, 2023
The IAFNS Assembly on Scientific Integrity has updated its Guiding Principles for Funding Food Science and Nutrition Research to provide a modernized framework for minimizing bias and promoting integrity in industry-funded research.
Events
Science Is Self-Correcting- but the Record Is Not. Opportunities for Improvement for Journals and Scientists
November 13, 2020
Washington DC, USA
In this webinar, invited experts will discuss some of the challenges that exist when attempts are made to correct the scientific record and highlight opportunities for the scientific community and journals to improve the corrections process.