Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has acknowledged cases of potential scientific misconduct involving improper publication practices and unauthorized animal research, but the department is refusing to identify the employees or studies involved.
The admission was uncovered by Blacklock’s Reporter in the department’s annual report, Addressing Misconduct and Wrongdoing at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
“Concerns were raised regarding non-compliance with the department’s policy on science and technology publications related to the publication of scientific articles and book chapters,” the report said.
Officials also received complaints involving the unauthorized use of animals for research. The department said the allegations were reviewed under its science-integrity policy but provided no details about the findings, consequences or affected research.
The policy applies to federal employees and affiliated researchers involved in conducting, managing, reviewing or communicating scientific work.
Possible breaches include fabricating or misrepresenting data, improper authorship, failing to acknowledge scientific contributions, interfering with the release of findings and violating ethical or legal research requirements.
Despite the admission, no federal agency has attempted to document the full extent of plagiarism across the federal government.
A 2015 case involving an open-book Transport Canada employment examination found that six of 114 applicants had plagiarized material. The Public Service Commission concluded the applicants knowingly presented someone else’s work as their own to improve their chances of being hired.
Records released in 2017 revealed the commission had received 67 allegations involving plagiarism and résumé fraud over two years. At least seven cases were referred to the RCMP.
Agriculture Canada did not disclose whether the latest cases resulted in disciplinary action or whether any compromised publications were withdrawn or corrected.
Hellbound and Down 