Summary Report on Scientific Integrity - November 2019

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a non-regulatory agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

NIST's mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

Foundation of Scientific Integrity in Government

NIST has in place a number of policies and procedures to ensure the integrity of the scientific and technological information it develops and disseminates to the public. Relevant policies currently in effect are summarized below.

The NIST Manual sets forth policies and defines responsibilities that apply to the communication of NIST technical program results by staff members, guest researchers, research associates, and others who participate in technical programs.

Research Notebooks

The NIST Manual explains that all NIST technical communications are derived from the technical activities of its employees and supported by the technological records (e.g., research notebooks) they maintain.

It is NIST policy that all NIST employees engaged in research and development activities are responsible for maintaining a thorough and accurate record of their work by keeping a research notebook following internal Operating Unit policies.

Recognizing that scientific data at NIST are increasingly generated, stored and reported digitally, the NIST Leadership Board established a Scientific Data Lifecycle Management Working Group to study the collection, storage, use, repurposing and preservation of NIST's digital scientific data.

Statements of Uncertainty

A key element of Scientific Integrity relating to scientific and technical research has to do with statements of uncertainty associated with measurement results.

According to long-standing published NIST policy, a measurement result is considered complete only when accompanied by a quantitative statement of its uncertainty.

NIST policy requires uncertainty statements, and also requires that a uniform approach to expressing measurement uncertainty be followed.

To ensure that uncertainty statements are consistent with each other and with international practice, the NIST policy adopts the approach to expressing measurement uncertainty recommended by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM).