Overview of Research Security

Global engagement and international collaborations in research and scholarship foster open exchange of ideas, the advancement of science, and the development of innovation. Those collaborations are to be founded in core principles and values of openness and transparency, accountability, honesty, impartiality and objectivity, and respect.

In recent years, the U.S government among the Group of Seven (G7), has raised concerns related to inappropriate foreign interference affecting the integrity and security of the research enterprise. The G7 members in their commitment to ensuring their research remains both open and secured defined:

• Research Integrity is the adherence to the professional values, principles, and best practices that underpin our research communities. It forms the base on which to collaborate in a fair, innovative, open, and trusted research environment.
• Research Security involves the actions that protect our research communities from actors and behaviors that pose economic, strategic, and/or national and international security risks. Particularly relevant are the risks of undue influence, interference, or misappropriation of research; the outright theft of ideas, research outcomes, and intellectual property by states, militaries, and their proxies, as well as by non-state actors and organized criminal activity; and other activities and behaviors that have adverse economic, strategic, and/or national security implications.

In 2021, the White House issued “Presidential Memorandum on United States Government – Research and Development National Security Policy” (NSPM-33”). NSPM-33 tasked research funding agencies with establishing policies and regulations related to research security.  As a result, agencies are implementing mandates and requirements that institutions and individual investigators must comply with to be eligible federal funding recipients.

Research Security at Temple University

Temple University is committed to upholding research integrity and security principles without stigmatization or unfair treatment of any member of its research community regardless of their ethnic or national origin. Temple’s OVPR is working with other relevant units across campus in the development and implementation of its Research Security Program which encompasses several components.

Disclosure of External Activities

Individuals must disclose all outside activities in accordance with Temple’s policies, procedures and forms. In addition, investigators have an obligation to report their international activities to funding agencies as prescribed by their biographical sketches the current and pending and other support forms  

DIGITAL PERSISTENT IDENTIFIERS (DPI)

A digital identifier that is globally unique, persistent, machine resolvable and processable, and has an associated metadata schema. Consistent with NSPM-33, digital persistent identifiers are used to disambiguate and identify an individual person and agencies have been instructed to develop policies requiring individuals applying for federally funds to support research, to be registered with a service providing a digital persistent identifier.  

It is expected that DPIs or PIDs will be required by all agencies. NIH and DOE will require ORC IDs from researchers applying for funding by May 2025.  See Temple University Libraries' ORCID Guide for information about registering to obtain an Open Research and Contributor ID.

Undue Foreign Influence

International collaboration is important and necessary in the advancement of research and knowledge, but some foreign exchanges can pose risks to research security, intellectual property, and national security if sensitive information is misused. Undue foreign influence in research occurs when outside groups, like foreign governments or entities, try to access or control research for their own benefit. Protecting research from these threats is crucial for maintaining academic integrity and national safety.

A Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (FTRP) is an effort organized, and managed, or funded by a foreign government, or foreign entity, to recruit science and technology professionals or students.

Participation in any FTRP must be disclosed to federal sponsors according to their biosketches, current and pending and other support requirements.

A key concern are foreign talent recruitment programs, which aim to attract researchers to share cutting-edge knowledge and are considered malign by the US Government. Temple University researchers are encouraged to carefully review the following before agreeing to participate in a FTRP. Temple University prohibits participation of covered individuals in Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRPs).

TEMPLE POLICY: PARTICIPATION IN FOREIGN TALENT RECRUITMENT PROGRAMS

Required Investigator Certifications

All individuals designated as senior/key personnel on the National Science Foundation (NSF) proposals must certify that they are not a party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program. Effective June 7, 2025, all Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-Principal Investigators (co-PIs) named on NSF awards made on or after May 20, 2024, to annually certify in Research.gov that they are not affiliated with a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP).

What to know about the required certifications:

• Who must certify: Only PIs and co-PIs. This is not an organization certification. NSF is working to expand the MFTRP annual certification requirement for all senior/key personnel roles at a future date.
• Where to certify: In www.Research.gov, Impacted PIs and co-PIs will be prompted to complete the MFTRP certification after signing into Research.gov.
• How often: Impacted individuals are required to complete a certification once per year, regardless of the number of qualifying awards.
• Certification visibility: PIs and co-PIs can view their certification response in the Academic/Professional Information section of their Research.gov profile. NSF is working to provide organizations with access to the annual certifications.

For more details, refer to PAPPG Chapter II.D.1.e(ii) and II.D.1.d(ix). Frequently Asked Questions and MFTRP contract examples will be available on the MFTRP section of the Office of the Chief of Research Security Strategy and Policy website

Questions?

• Policy: [click-for-email]
• Technical help: NSF IT Service Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or [click-for-email]

Cybersecurity

Protecting research against security threats, misappropriation, and interference requires implementation of protocols, procedures, and robust systems to safeguard data accessed, used, created, stored, and transmitted when conducting research.

Temple University is committed to fostering a secure research environment that safeguards intellectual property, complies with export control regulations, enables secure collaboration, and mitigates cybersecurity risks, ultimately supporting innovation and trust within the research community. The Office of Information Security at Temple University is dedicated to empowering researchers with the knowledge and support necessary to protect research data, ensuring privacy, security, and compliance with regulations for sensitive research.  enhances research security through regulatory awareness, researcher and compliance consultations, project involvement, IT coordination, and security requirements in contract reviews.

Visit the Information Security Education website and contact [click-for-email] if you have any question or need assistance. 

International Travel

NSPM-33 requires for covered institutions to implement a travel reporting program that includes organizational records of international travel for covered individual s participating in R&D awards.  certify that they provide training to each covered individual engaged in international travel.

Export Controls

Export controls are federal laws and regulations that govern if and how information, technology, software, services, and physical items designated as “defense articles” or “dual use” items can be exported or shared from the U.S. to foreign countries or to foreign national (deemed export) within the United States or abroad. See Temple’s Policy and procedures and Compliance for International Research and Collaboration (Export Control).

Training

Institutions are required to implement a research security, export controls, and foreign travel security training program for all covered individuals according to identified needs and risk profiles. Temple University will provide more information related to training requirements and compliant solutions as further guidance from funding agencies is issued.

Research security training has been published by NSF and can be taken to learn more about these topics.

DOE Research Security Training Requirement – Effective May 1, 2025

Effective May 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will require all covered individuals listed on DOE-funded research and development (R&D) proposals and awards to complete mandatory research security training.

This requirement is part of DOE’s implementation of Section 10634 of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. It is distinct from the broader NSPM-33 Research Security Program (RSP) requirements, which apply at the institutional level and are still forthcoming.

Additional Resources

• G7 Common Values and Principles on Research Security and Research Integrity
• OSTP  educational brief: Enhancing the Security and Integrity of America’s Research Enterprise.
• NSPM-33 Implementation Guidance Appendix: Definitions (November 1, 2023)
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence Research Security
• Research Security at the National Science Foundation
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) Website on Foreign Interference
• DoD Academic Research Security
• OSTP Clear Rules for Research Security and Researcher Responsibility
• Temple Webinar on Research Security (May 15, 2025)