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Office of Research Integrity and Compliance

    In this section

    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is committed to ensuring the veracity of research conducted under its oversight and has put policies and procedures in place to ensure that its research meets the highest of ethical standards. The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance is responsible for providing education, guidance, and institutional support to faculty and institutional leadership in the areas of conflict of interest, research misconduct, research compliance, and issues of research integrity. The Office of Research Integrity and Compliance also provides general advice to faculty regarding interactions with industry and reviews the outside consulting agreements of faculty and research staff to ensure such activities comply with institutional policies.

    Research Compliance

    The Research Compliance team at Dana-Farber is responsible for providing expert guidance and advice to ensure compliance with the federal rules and regulations that govern research. The team is committed to the highest standards of ethics and integrity while investigating research compliance issues and evaluating current policies and procedures. Research Compliance is a resource for departments across Dana-Farber and provides regulatory updates, develops policies, and creates more efficient SOPs to support research programs.

    For more information, contact the Research Compliance team: 617-632-2488 or researchcompliance@dfci.harvard.edu

    Recent News

    In January 2024, news reports published stories of alleged errors in certain papers published by Dana-Farber researchers. We take these allegations seriously, and we are deeply committed to ensuring the accuracy of research conducted under our oversight. We have a strong process for evaluating possible errors, led by our Office of Research Integrity. We knew about many of these possible errors prior to the recent media coverage and we already had started our robust and existing evaluation processes. Where necessary, we have been working with the academic journals to request corrections or retractions.  

    For more information about this, please see frequently asked questions about our research integrity process.

    Research Misconduct

    Research Misconduct means fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has put into place a policy that outlines the process for reviewing and investigating allegations of misconduct and explains the consequences of misconduct. The policy is available here:

    The Office of Research Integrity administers this policy and is a resource for anyone with concerns or questions about possible research misconduct. Barrett J. Rollins, MD, PhD, Linde Family Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Research Integrity Officer.

    For more information, email researchintegrity@dfci.harvard.edu

    Public request for FCOI Information

    Conflict of Interest

    An Individual Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) occurs when an Individual's outside financial interests (or those of their Family or any Associated Entity) could be directly and significantly impacted by or could directly and significantly impact the Individual's research activities conducted through or with resources of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

    An institutional conflict of interest in research (ICOI) describes a situation in which the financial interests of an institution or an institutional official, acting within his or her authority on behalf of the institution, may unduly affect or appear to affect the conduct of research or other related activities of the institution.

    Under the oversight of the Dana-Farber Faculty Committee on Conflicts of Interest and the Dana-Farber Institutional Conflicts of Interest Committee, the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance is responsible for the implementation of the following conflict of interest policies:

    For more information, email researchintegrity@dfci.harvard.edu

    Dana-Farber’s External Institutional Conflicts of Interest Committee Monitoring Board

    To carry out its commitment to integrity in science and the welfare of participants, Dana-Farber’s Institutional Conflicts of Interest Committee for Research has established an external advisory board. Members of the Dana-Farber External Institutional Conflicts of Interest Committee Monitoring Board, who are experts in oncology research, provide independent review of studies where Dana-Farber has specific types of related financial interests.

    For more information, email dfcioriicoi@dfci.harvard.edu