Fearlessly Forward with Integrity
Office of Integrity and Responsible Conduct
By promoting appropriate practices and addressing concerns related to scholarly work and faculty professional conduct, OIRC strives to support UMD in fulfilling its mission of achieving excellence in teaching, research, and public service.
As a state institution for which the public trust is essential — and as the flagship university within the University System of Maryland (USM) — the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) bears a particular responsibility to: promote a culture of integrity, responsibility, and adherence to expectations and requirements for conduct; provide related training, guidance, resources, and support to the campus community; and investigate and address concerns regarding potential misconduct through established policies and procedures.
OIRC serves as a critical component of the larger institutional infrastructure that works to meet this responsibility.
OIRC Functional Areas
The institutional-level Integrity and Responsible Conduct Program (“IRC@UMD”) offers programming, courses, support, and resources. Courses offered by the program include courses focused on integrity and responsible conduct in research (“IRC-R”) and address traditional RCR/RECR topics.
OIRC addresses a variety of concerns related to the integrity and responsible conduct of members of the UMD community, with a primary focus on research misconduct, creative activities misconduct, scholarly misconduct, and faculty professional misconduct.
Addressing Research, Creative Activities, Scholarly, and Faculty Professional Misconduct Issues
Important News
An interim policy on integrity and responsible conduct in scholarly work is in effect as of January 1, 2026. The interim policy (which revised the previous University of Maryland Policy and Procedures Concerning Scholarly Misconduct in accordance with changes in relevant federal regulations) addresses research misconduct, scholarly misconduct, and creative activities misconduct related to work performed at or under the auspices of UMD. Read the policy and learn more about such matters are handled under the new interim policy here.
An interim policy on faculty professional conduct also went into effect in August 2024. Read the policy and learn more about how faculty professional misconduct issues are addressed here.
Contact Us
You can reach OIRC at oirc@umd.edu or 301-314-1814. Questions regarding research, creative activities, and/or scholarly misconduct can be directed to rio@umd.edu. Inquiries about integrity and responsible conduct programming can be sent to ircp@umd.edu.
Questions?
OIRC
We are committed to ensuring that our UMD community can move Fearlessly Forward with integrity. Learn more about the dedicated staff of our office.