Research policies

Research misconduct means fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in proposing, performing or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. It does not include honest error or differences of opinion.

Allegations are received at snvrk@snvrkotics.com and by post at the registered address. Because SNVRKOTICS LLC has one principal, an allegation concerning that principal is referred within ten working days to an external reviewer — a qualified person with no financial relationship to the company — who conducts the inquiry and, if warranted, the investigation, and whose name appears in the record.

An inquiry determines whether an investigation is warranted and is completed within sixty days. An investigation is completed within one hundred and twenty days. The subject of the allegation is notified in writing, may respond, and may be represented.

Findings are reported to any funding agency whose award the research was performed under, within the time and in the form that agency requires. Records of every allegation, inquiry and investigation are kept for seven years.

Anyone who raises an allegation in good faith is protected from retaliation by the company.

A significant financial interest is any remuneration, equity or intellectual-property income from an entity related to an investigator's institutional responsibilities that exceeds five thousand US dollars in the preceding twelve months, or any equity in a non-public entity, or any reimbursed or sponsored travel from such an entity.

Every investigator on a proposal discloses their significant financial interests to the company before the proposal is submitted, annually during an award, and within thirty days of acquiring a new one. The disclosure is written and dated.

The company determines whether an interest could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct or reporting of the research. Where it could, a management plan is written — reduction, public disclosure in publications, independent monitoring, or elimination — and followed. Where the company's principal is the investigator, the determination and the plan are reviewed by the external reviewer named under the integrity policy.

Determinations and plans are reported to the funding agency as its rules require, and records are kept for three years after the final expenditure report.

Each programme states in its protocol what data it will produce, in what formats, and where it will be deposited. AgLab produces plot-level phenotype tables, images and instrument logs; the semiotics programme produces coded corpora, codebooks and derived datasets that cite their public sources.

Data underlying any publication are deposited in a public repository that issues a persistent identifier, in an open format, under the CC BY 4.0 licence unless a cited source's terms require otherwise, no later than the publication date. Analysis code is published under the MIT licence in a public repository.

Data that cannot be shared — because a cited source's terms forbid redistribution, or because sharing would identify an individual — are described in metadata that is shared, with the reason stated.

Where an award has its own public-access requirements, they apply in addition to this policy and are followed as written.

Neither programme involves human subjects as defined at 45 CFR 46.102 or vertebrate animals. The semiotics programme analyses published, public material and does not interact with, intervene upon, or collect identifiable private information about any individual.

If a study is proposed that would involve human subjects, the company obtains review and approval from a registered institutional review board before any recruitment or data collection, and the approval is cited in the protocol.

AgLab works with conventional, non-engineered plant material. No regulated article under 7 CFR Part 340 is used. Plant material is not moved across state or national borders without the USDA APHIS permit, phytosanitary certificate or other authorisation that movement requires, and every accession carries a chain-of-custody record.

Neither programme involves technology or technical data controlled under the Export Administration Regulations or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The company screens any proposed collaboration or transfer against those regulations before it proceeds.

Costs charged to an award are recorded in a separate ledger for that award, with the invoice, receipt or timesheet attached to each entry. Costs are charged only if allowable, allocable, reasonable and consistently treated under 2 CFR 200 Subpart E.

Time worked on an award is recorded by the person doing the work, at least monthly, and reconciled to the ledger.

Financial records, supporting documents and reports are retained for three years after the date of the final expenditure report, or longer if the agency requires or an audit or dispute is open.

Equipment purchased with award funds is tagged, inventoried and used for the award first.