One of the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) primary missions is to support the creation and dissemination of knowledge. In fulfilling this mission, members of the UNH community undertake many forms of scholarly activity. Ethical conduct in these activities is vital to ensuring the integrity of the scholarly process and its outcomes.

Standards fundamental to the ethical conduct of scholarly activity include:

• Honesty
• Respect
• Accuracy
• Fairness

Conduct that embodies the standards of honesty, respect, accuracy, and fairness, and others that promote trust and collaboration are fundamental to the integrity of scholarly activity.  As in society at large, fraudulent behavior, such as lying, cheating, or stealing, is damaging to, and unacceptable within, the academic community.

Accordingly, UNH has adopted a policy on misconduct in scholarly activity that describes actions that comprise misconduct at UNH and details the procedures for handling misconduct allegations.  The UNH Misconduct Policy is applicable to all members of the UNH community, including, but not limited to, faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students.

Allegations of misconduct in scholarly activity should be reported without delay.  See the Reporting section (#6) of the policy (http://www.usnh.edu/olpm/UNH/II.Acad/C.htm#6) for details.  (The Office of the Vice President for Research [OVPR] is now the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Research.)