The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or Department), through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is exempting a system of records from certain requirements of the Privacy Act to protect the integrity of NIH research misconduct proceedings and to protect the identity of confidential sources in such proceedings.
A formal finding of research misconduct under 42 CFR part 93 (HHS) or equivalent agency policy. The respondent was found to have engaged in fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism of research data. The federal grant funds involved are typically identified in the FR notice, along with the administrative actions (debarment, supervised research, manuscript correction or retraction requirements).