Professor A suspected that there was a conflict of interest in a research institute when the same persons carry out research activities and make official decisions on the subject they research. A named three persons that they suspected of RI violations. The research institute did not initiate the preliminary investigation of the RI process.
TENK considers that an RI process that concerns individual researchers cannot assess the organisation's activities as an authority. However, the suspected RI violation notified by A included serious allegations concerning the activities of individual researchers. Therefore, the suspicion was within the scope of the RI Guidelines and the research institute should have carried out a preliminary inquiry in accordance with the RI process, in which the parties concerned would have been consulted.
However, the preliminary review into the matter carried out by the research institute corresponded in scope to a preliminary inquiry of the RI process, and a preliminary inquiry would not have brought forward anything new that would not have been revealed in the documents submitted in connection with TENK's statement processing and in the consultation of the parties involved. Therefore, it was not necessary to launch a preliminary inquiry in line with the RI Guidelines. The respondents were not guilty of RI violations.