Frequently Asked Questions: DOI Scientific Integrity Policy

Scientific and scholarly information considered in Departmental decision making must be robust, of the highest quality, and the result of as rigorous scientific and scholarly processes as can be achieved. This policy codifies that requirement and reaffirms our commitment maintaining integrity in Department scientific and scholarly activities. In addition, the policy addresses the broad issue of scientific and scholarly activity and among other things, provides specific codes of conduct for employees, scientists and scholars, and decision makers at the Department. Further, the policy provides clear guidance for federal employees who wish to engage with the communities of practice represented by professional societies.

Scientific activities involve the application of well-documented protocols and procedures in a systematic manner, and include, but are not limited to, data collection, inventorying, monitoring, statistical analysis, surveying, observations, experimentation, study, research, economic analysis, forecasting, predictive analytics, modeling, technology development, and scientific assessment. These activities include matters covered by any of the physical, biological, cultural, or social sciences, and may include matters such as landscape architecture, engineering, mathematics, statistics, literature review, and synthesis. These activities also include scholarly activities, which are intellectual endeavors conducted in a manner specified by standard protocols and procedures in culturally focused disciplines such as history, archeology, ethnography, architecture, and landscape architecture. Scientific activities do not include educational programs or exhibits.

The policy applies to all Department employees (including political appointees), outside parties (including contractors), volunteers, trainees, and interns, when they: (1) Propose, conduct, review, approve, supervise, manage, or influence Department scientific activities; (2) Communicate about the Department’s scientific activities; or (3) Utilize scientific information in making Department policy, management, or regulatory decisions. An outside party is any contractor, cooperator, partner, permittee, lessee, grantee, group, organization, or individual who provides goods or services to, or otherwise interacts with, the Department under terms specified in a written agreement (such as a cooperative agreement, grant, or memorandum of understanding), contract, lease, or permit.

The SIO serves as a liaison on matters of scientific integrity, which include: (a) fostering effective communication and acting as an intermediary and source of information; (b) providing advice and guidance on the scientific integrity policy, and (c) serving as scientific integrity SME for internal and external matters involving the Bureau.

The SIO also processes complaints alleging violation of the scientific integrity policy. If a scientific integrity complaint is filed, the SIOs will complete a preliminary review of the allegation(s) to evaluate timing, content and reasonableness and determine if the complaint should be dismissed or proceed to the inquiry stage. During the inquiry stage, the SIO will as necessary gather documents and other evidence, conduct interviews, and obtain signed and dated witness statements or declarations from any individual with information relevant to the complaint. The SIO will also inform the subject of the allegation, in writing and allow each subject an opportunity to provide a statement and other material the subject believes is relevant to the complaint. The SIO may also enlist the assistance of subject-matter experts. The SIO will determine if the policy has been violated and may make related recommendations to restore scientific integrity.

Under the 2024 policy revision: all covered parties will receive scientific integrity training or information; new hires or appointees will receive scientific integrity information or training within 6 months of their date of hire or appointment; and biennial training (every two years) will be required for employees who propose, review, approve, conduct, manage, and use the results of and communicate about science. To help address this requirement, a training module is under development for use in DOI Talent. In addition, Scientific Integrity Officials are available to provide training in in-person, virtual, and blended formats.

The Department encourages the enhancement of scientific and scholarly integrity through engagement with the communities of practice represented by professional societies. The Department encourages employees to participate in outside professional organizations in order to enhance their professional development, especially when that participation advances the Department's mission, programs, and operations. This policy reinforces these principles. An employee's service as an officer or as a member on the board of directors (or in any position that creates a fiduciary duty under State or other applicable law) of a non-Federal organization may create an actual or apparent conflict of interest or may affect the employee's ability to act impartially. Therefore, prior to service in an official capacity employees must receive an Authorization of Assignment from the Designated Agency Ethics Official or a bureau director and recusal memorandum.

Scientists are not forbidden from speaking to the media. Scientists must clearly identify when they are speaking on behalf of the agency they work for or when they are speaking as a private citizen.

The Departmental Scientific Integrity Officer, working with Bureau Scientific Integrity Officers and Departmental Scientific Integrity Coordinators, provide guidance, advice, and oversight for the scientific integrity policy. By ensuring a positive culture of scientific integrity, the policy and officers help in encouraging and maintaining an environment of rigorous and honest investigation, open discussion, and constructive peer review, free of political influence that is needed for good science to thrive.

The Secretary has repeatedly stressed the important role that science plays in decision making at Interior. This policy affirms the Secretary's commitment, for example:

1. By helping to ensure a positive culture of scientific integrity, we are maintaining and encouraging an environment of rigorous and honest investigation, open discussion, and constructive peer review, free of political influence that is needed for good science to thrive. This policy encourages an environment where science can thrive and can effectively support decision making.
2. Having Department and Bureau-level Scientific Integrity Officers will give everyone a point of contact to bring concerns or issues and will engender trust and openness.
3. Make standards for handling science and scholarship very clear by providing specific codes of conduct for employees, scientists and scholars, and decision makers at the Department.
4. Interior science must be robust and trustworthy and all employees in the Department as well as the people and institutions we work with support and contribute to that goal. The policy sets clear expectations for all people—including external contractors, grantees, etc who supervise, manage, or influence scientific and scholarly activities, communicate information about it, utilize it in making agency policy, management or regulatory decisions.
5. The policy removes any ambiguity about how federal employees can engage with the communities of practice represented by professional societies.

Established on 28 January 2011, Department of Interior's Scientific and Scholarly Integrity Policy, was the first federal agency policy to respond to the Presidential Memorandum on Scientific Integrity (March 9, 2009) and the guidance provided by the Office of Science and Technology Policy Memorandum on Scientific Integrity (December 17, 2010). The policy was also responsive to: Secretarial Order No. 3305 (September 29, 2010), Ensuring Scientific Integrity within the Department of the Interior, which directed the establishment of a Departmental Manual Chapter that sets forth principles of scientific and scholarly integrity and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of all Department employees in upholding these principles; and comments received from a August 31, 2010 public posting of a proposed draft policy.

The Department revised the Scientific Integrity policy on December 16, 2014, based on the first three years of implementation.

The Department revised the Scientific Integrity policy on August 8, 2024, based on 9 years of additional implementation and in response to the requirements set forth in the the 2021 Executive Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking and the 2023 National Science and Technology Council’s guidance prepared by the Scientific Integrity Framework Interagency Working Group A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice.