U.S. Department of the Treasury

DATE: August 29, 2024

SUBJECT: Scientific Integrity Policy

1. PURPOSE. This Directive establishes the Scientific Integrity Policy for the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”). The purpose of this policy is to provide instruction to enhance and promote a continuing culture of scientific integrity within Treasury and ensure the integrity of all aspects of scientific activities within the Department, as defined in section 3.
2. SCOPE. This Directive applies to all bureaus, offices, and organizations of the Department of the Treasury, including the Offices of Inspectors General. The provisions of this Directive shall not be construed to interfere with or impede the authorities or independence of the Department’s Inspectors General. Any external partners that engage or assist in scientific activities with Treasury are expected to uphold the principles of scientific integrity established by this policy to the extent applicable.
3. DEFINITIONS.
   1. Scientific integrity is the adherence to professional practices, ethical behavior, and the principles of honesty and objectivity when conducting, managing, using the results of, and communicating about science and scientific activities. Inclusivity, transparency, and protection from inappropriate influence are hallmarks of scientific integrity.
   2. Inappropriate influence is the attempt to shape or interfere in scientific activities, or the communication about scientific activities or findings, in a manner not supported by scientific justification or inconsistent with well-accepted scientific methods and theories.
   3. Scientific activities refer to activities that involve the application of well-accepted scientific methods and theories in a systematic manner, and includes, but is not limited to, data collection, inventorying, monitoring, statistical analysis, surveying, observations, experimentation, study, research, integration, economic analysis, forecasting, predictive analytics, modeling, technology development, scientific assessment, and dissemination.
   4. Covered persons includes all Treasury employees, political appointees, detailees, paid interns, and Special Government Employees who engage in, manage, or supervise (at all levels), or make decisions based upon science and scientific activities.
4. POLICY REQUIREMENTS. Treasury shall promote a culture of scientific integrity. This means creating an environment that is conducive to innovation, progress, and the protection of scientists and the process of science, including safeguarding the dignity, rights, safety, and privacy of the participants and other stakeholders and affected entities, and adhering to the Federal Data Strategy Data Ethics Framework, criminal ethics statutes, and Standard of Ethical Conduct for Executive Branch Employees, and other relevant requirements and professional standards. Treasury leadership at all levels shall recognize, support, and promote this policy and its underlying principles, as well as model behavior exemplary of a strong culture of scientific integrity. Treasury shall ensure that different modes of science (e.g., citizen science, community-engaged research, participatory science, and crowdsourcing), as permitted, have the recognition, support, and resources to meet the same high standards of scientific integrity that traditional modes are expected to uphold.
   1. Protecting Scientific Processes. Within normal priority setting and budgetary constraints, it is the policy of Treasury to:
      1. 1) Prohibit inappropriate influence in the proposal, selection, design, conduct, management, evaluation, reporting, and use of scientific data, research, and activities, allowing scientific work to be performed accurately and objectively, without predetermined outcomes using the most appropriate and rigorous techniques.
      2. 2) Avoid unnecessary restrictions on resources and capacity that limit and reduce the availability of science and scientific products.
      3. 3) Enable covered persons engaged in scientific activities to conduct their work free from reprisal or concern for reprisal.
      4. 4) Require reasonable efforts by covered persons to ensure the accuracy of the scientific record and to correct identified inaccuracies that pertain to their contribution to any scientific records.
      5. 5) Require that covered persons represent their contributions to scientific work fairly and accurately and neither accept nor assume unauthorized and/or unwarranted credit for another’s accomplishments.
      6. 6) Ensure independent review of scientific facilities, methodologies, and other scientific activities as appropriate to ensure scientific integrity, including the management of qualitative and quantitative data be based on verifiable data that meet rigorous standards, such as those used by professional science and evaluation organizations.
      7. 7) Ensure covered persons may express differing scientific opinions.
   2. Protecting Scientists. To protect covered persons from retribution, retaliation, or reprisal, it is the policy of Treasury to:
      1. 1) Select and retain candidates for scientific positions based on the candidate’s relevant knowledge, credentials, experience, and integrity, and hold them and their supervisors to the highest standard of ethics as described in this policy.
      2. 2) Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the scientific workforce and to create safe workspaces that are free from harassment and discrimination, as consistent with existing Treasury policies.
      3. 3) Prevent supervisors or other agency leadership from intimidating or coercing scientists to alter scientific data, findings, or professional opinions or inappropriately influencing scientific advisory boards.
      4. 4) Protect employees from prohibited personnel practices (as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)) and comply with whistleblower protections, including the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 and other applicable laws.
   3. Promoting the Free Flow and Use of Scientific Information. It is the policy of Treasury to:
      1. 1) Facilitate transparency and the free flow of scientific information, consistent with privacy and classification standards, including processes in place to ensure reproducibility of results. Treasury will encourage the dissemination of its scientific and technical analyses to the public to the extent permissible by law.
      2. 2) Prevent the suppression, unreasonable delay, or alteration of scientific and/or technical findings and products for non-scientific purposes, including the intimidation or coercion of any covered personnel to alter or censor scientific or technical findings or conclusions.
      3. 3) Maintain mechanisms to resolve disputes that arise from decisions to proceed or not to proceed with proposed interviews or other releases of public information or related activities.
      4. 4) Disseminate as widely as possible (to the appropriate audiences for intended appropriate uses) and accurately represent in agency communications the work and conclusions of agency scientists and the work and conclusions of work funded/supported by the federal government. Give scientists the option to review the scientific content of proposed agency communications that rely on their research, identify them as an author, or represent their scientific opinion.
      5. 5) Where legally permissible, practical, and appropriate, enable scientists to directly participate in policy and management decision-making forums where their science is being used in order to ensure that the science is accurately represented and interpreted.
   4. Promoting Accountability. It is the policy of Treasury to:
      1. 1) Make scientific integrity information or training available and encourage bureaus to ensure that all covered persons are informed of their responsibilities under this scientific integrity policy.
      2. 2) Provide clear guidance on how to report concerns and allegations of Scientific Integrity Policy violations formally and confidentially. Those who report concerns and allegations need not be directly involved or witness a violation.
      3. 3) Encourage review procedures that ensure accurate descriptions of Treasury functions, particularly where science relies on understandings of those functions.
   5. Professional Development for Government Scientists. It is the policy of Treasury to encourage covered persons involved in agency scientific activities, in a manner consistent with federal rules of ethics and Treasury ethics guidelines, to interact with the broader scientific community, for example by publishing in peer-reviewed, professional, or scholarly journals; presenting at conferences; serving as editors or editorial board members of professional or scholarly journals; and participating in professional or scholarly societies, committees, task forces and other specialized bodies of professional societies. It is also the policy of Treasury to make adequate and appropriate developmental training available to covered persons, consistent with any budgetary constraints, and to encourage covered persons to participate in such training and other developmental opportunities.
5. AUTHORITIES.
   1. TO 101-05, “Reporting Relationships and Supervision of Officials, Offices and Bureaus, and Delegation of Certain Authority in the Department of the Treasury,” September 20, 2022.
   2. TO 102-27, “Evidence and Scientific Integrity Delegation of Authority,” July 12, 2024.
   3. Pub. L. No 115-435 --- The Foundations for Evidenced-based Policymaking Act of 2018.
   4. Presidential Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policy Making, January 27, 2021.
6. REFERENCES.
   1. Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch 5 C.F.R. Part 2635, as amended.
   2. OMB M-19-23: Phase 1 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning Guidance.
   3. OMB M-20-12: Phase 4 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Program Evaluation Standards and Practices.
   4. OMB M-21-27: Evidence-Based Policymaking: Learning Agendas and Annual Evaluation Plans.
   5. A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice by the Scientific Integrity Framework Interagency Working Group of the National Science and Technology Council, January 2023.
   6. Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking, January 2021.
7. OFFICE OF PRIMARY INTEREST. Office of Strategy, Planning, and Performance Improvement.

/S/
Aditi Hardikar
Assistant Secretary for Management