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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Research Integrity (ORI) released its 2024 Annual Report on the final day of 2025. ORI oversees and directs Public Health Service (PHS) research integrity activities on behalf of the HHS secretary, except for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
ORI Review of Allegations and Cases
ORI received 713 allegations of research misconduct, resulting in 117 cases opened in 2024, with an additional 38 cases carried over from prior years. Of the 119 cases closed during the year:
- 39 were pre-investigation administrative closures
- 43 were declined post-investigation
- 31 resulted in no finding of research misconduct
- six resulted in findings of research misconduct
Research Misconduct Findings
Five of the six research misconduct findings were falsifications and fabrications. The sixth case included findings of falsification, fabrication and plagiarism.
Misconduct findings resulted in:
- two debarments
- six prohibitions from PHS Advisory Service
- five supervision plans
- five certification requirements
- 10 publication retractions and correction requests
View the ORI case summaries.
ORI Technical, Compliance and Grant Support
ORI reported the following technical and compliance support in 2024:
- provided 1,134 technical assistance sessions, offering guidance to institutions responding to research misconduct allegations
- handled 12 compliance reviews of institutions
- reviewed more than 6,000 institutional assurance of research misconduct program records
Of the 12 compliance reviews handled in 2024, seven were ongoing cases that carried over from 2023 and five were newly initiated in 2024. With five reviews closed in 2024, seven remained active and carried forward into 2025.
ORI awarded four grants in 2024 totaling $196,305 to support conference and workshop programs that promote research integrity.
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