a rule enforced by the coercive power of the government. Laws may include statutes drafted by legislative bodies (such as Congress), regulations developed and implemented by government agencies, and legal precedents established by courts, i.e. common law.

a person, such as a guardian, parent of a minor child, health care agent, or close relative, who is legally authorized to make decisions for another person when they cannot make decisions for themselves. LARs may also be called surrogate decision-makers. See Competence, Decision-making capacity.

 an agreement between institutions for the transfer and use of research materials, such as cells or reagents.

a policy, adopted by some journals, which allows journalists to have access to a scientific paper prior to publication, provided that they agree not to publicly disclose the contents of the paper until it is published. Some journals will refuse to publish papers that have already appeared in the media.

someone who provides education, training, guidance, critical feedback, or emotional support to a student. In science, a mentor may be the student’s advisor but need not be.

a risk that is not greater than the risk of routine medical or psychological tests or exams or the risk ordinarily encountered in daily life activities.

See Research misconduct.

spending research funds wastefully or illegally; for example, using grant funds allocated for equipment to pay for travel to a conference. Some types of mismanagement may also constitute fraud or embezzlement.

(see Ethics).

an NSF office that oversees the integrity of NSF-funded research. OIG reviews reports of research misconduct inquiries and investigations conducted by institutions and investigations of other problems, such as mismanagement of funds.