Review of annual statements on research integrity 2025

Commissioned by the UK Committee on Research Integrity and the Research Integrity Concordat Signatories (RICS) Group, this report reviews annual statements from UK higher education institutions, government departments, and other research organisations for 2022/23 and 2023/24. This work builds on a previous iteration published in 2023 focused on annual statements produced between academic years 2019/2020 and 2021/2022. It reflects a maturing research integrity landscape and highlights emerging trends and practices. This report also informed the Committee’s annual statement and their ongoing efforts to promote research integrity and good practice in the UK.

Through a combination of desk research and direct contacts, we identified 234 annual research integrity statements produced by higher education institutions for 2022/23 and 2023/24, along with 21 statements produced within government and 19 by other research organisations.

Annual statements were then analysed via NVivo to tag relevant portions of text that mapped to areas in the annual reporting template, consistent with the 2023 report methodology. In the current iteration, we additionally explored the annual statements via topical deep dives and a further landscape scanning exercise co-designed with a project Advisory Group with members from the UK Committee on Research Integrity and the RICS Group.

Our analysis suggests that research integrity is understood not as a standalone compliance requirement but as an integral component of broader research excellence and institutional culture. UK institutions are embedding integrity into strategic goals, leveraging professional services, and adapting to evolving research landscapes through innovation and collaboration.

Overall, the evidence indicates that the future of research integrity in the UK rests not only on alignment with established frameworks and requirements, but on the sector’s collective capacity to innovate, collaborate, and embed integrity as the cornerstone of research excellence in an increasingly complex external landscape.