“What areas do you think research integrity hasn't explored enough?” This question prompted different answers during the Quest for Research Excellence 2012 Conference being held in Georgetown, March 15-16. Here are some areas in research integrity that a few people attending the conference and giving presentations would like to see further explored:

• "There's a lot of concern about training for ethical research, but not so much about the unethical scientist...the bad apple...who will act that way regardless." -Mark Spranka

• "I haven't heard a lot about the ethics of mentoring and the mentor-mentee relationship." -Andrew Morrison

• "Research integrity should be explored more in the education and development of young researchers and scientists." - unnamed

• "We want to promote deaf and hearing collaboration in research design." - Jenny Singleton

• "Finding out what IRB members do or don't understand, and why differences in IRB reviews might exist." -Patricia Alt

• "How to close the gap between the sciences and humanities so there is more social responsibility in science and scientists." - unnamed

• "Define standards for communication between scientists and academic institutions which issue press releases or media advisories about the research being done." -Richard David Feinman

• "There's room for improvement in the institution's role in promoting research integrity." - Daniel R. Vasgird

• "Figure out how young graduate students learn about research and scholarly integrity--and move the conversation toward professional development." -Daniel Denecke

Going by the definition from NIH (RFA-NR-07-001: Research on Research Integrity (R01) grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NR-07-001.html),  "Integrity" is understood as "the use of honest and verifiable methods in proposing, performing, and evaluating research and reporting research results with particular attention to adherence to rules, regulations, guidelines, and commonly accepted professional codes or norms."

What other areas of research integrity would you like to see explored more? Let us know.