This bill makes sure that federal agencies doing scientific research keep their work honest and free from political pressure. Right now, there's no consistent requirement across government agencies to protect scientific integrity, which means research findings could potentially be altered or hidden for political reasons. This bill fixes that by requiring every federal agency that funds, conducts, or oversees research to have a clear policy protecting scientists' work.

Here's what the policy has to do: it must prevent political considerations from influencing scientific conclusions, ban the suppression or changing of research findings, and allow researchers to share their results with the scientific community. The bill also requires agencies to create a way for people to report when these rules are broken. Each agency has to appoint a Scientific Integrity Officer to oversee this, set up a process to resolve disputes, and train employees on these policies. The agencies submit their policies to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for approval, and then make them public and send them to Congress.

In practical terms, this protects researchers from being pressured to hide or twist their findings, and it protects the public by ensuring that government science is based on actual evidence rather than politics. It also creates accountability—if someone violates these rules, there's now an official way to report it and get it investigated.

Scientific Integrity Act

Tonko, Paul

Scientific Integrity ActThis bill requires each federal agency that funds, conducts, or oversees scientific research to adopt and enforce a scientific integrity policy. Under the bill, among other parameters,&nbsp;such policies must (1)&nbsp;ensure that scientific conclusions are not based on political considerations, (2)&nbsp;prohibit the suppression or alteration of findings, and (3)&nbsp;permit researchers to disseminate their findings and engage with the scientific community as appropriate. Scientific integrity policies must also include a mechanism through which stakeholders may report violations of the policy.&nbsp;Agencies are required to submit their scientific integrity policies to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for approval. Approved policies must be made&nbsp;public, submitted to Congress, and periodically updated. Agencies may use their existing policies provided they satisfy the requirements of the bill. The Government Accountability Office must review implementation of the policies.&nbsp;Each agency is also required to (1) appoint a Scientific Integrity Officer, (2) establish a process for dispute resolution consistent with the scientific integrity policy, and (3) establish a specified training program for current and new employees.