The Freedom of Information Act and Accountability in University Research

Abstract

In general, information on government research grants is covered by FOIA only if it is in possession of a government agency. Increasingly, citizens and policy-makers look to science to help solve pressing national and international problems relating to such matters as health, environmental quality, and defense. It's no surprise, then, that federal government is primary funder of university research in United States.1 With federal money comes an interest in policy implications of research, and scientists are regularly asked to contribute to development of governmental policy. In recent years, however, several widely publicized cases of fraud have raised questions about accountability in research, especially federally funded research.2 For scientists, promotions and better jobs depend to a great extent on publications in scholarly journals. The pressure to produce high numbers of publications can tempt researchers to fabricate findings.3 Peer review of grant proposals and of manuscripts submitted to scholarly journals is of little help because peer review is designed to assess quality of a piece of research, not to uncover fraud.4 Fraud is most likely when scrutiny of research process is least.5 Many scienlists zealously guard their data and lab notebooks6; for most part, scientists are accountable only to other scientists. However, as Justice Brandeis once said, sunshine is best of disinfectants. If members of public (including journalists and scientists) had a greater right of access to information about federally funded research, fraud would be less likely. Increased openness leads to increased accountability. In addition to inhibiting fraud, a freer flow of information about science and technology might have other benefits. For example, many believe that increased scrutiny by press and public could help avert incidents such as accident at Three-Mile Island nuclear power plant7 and destruction of space shuttle Challenger.8 This article examines extent to which Freedom of Information Act,9 designed to increase accountability among public institutions, enables access to information about federally funded university research. The topic clear relevance to journalists who cover science or higher education. But it also relates to much broader debate about access to government information generally,10 as well as about control of science information.11 Scientists often are unwilling to communicate to public via news media.12 And when scientists do talk to reporters, they often attempt to exert tight control over nature of communication.13 Although journalists who cover science rarely take an adversarial stance toward their sources,14 journalists and scientists sometimes differ over access to information.15 In such cases, a reporter may turn to FOIA to try to obtain information that a scientist been unwilling to provide. Background United States citizens have no constitutional right of access to information about government-funded research. Although information-gathering been linked to ability to exercise First Amendment rights,16 Supreme Court has never intimated a First Amendment guarantee of a right of access to all sources of information within governmental control.17 In absence of a clear First Amendment right, court said that determining what kinds of information must be available to public is clearly a legislative task.18 Accordingly, public access to governmental information hinges on what former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once called the tug and pull of political forces in American Society.19 In 1966 those political forces produced FOIA, which created a strong legal presumption that information about federal activity should be available to public. A series of amendments in 1974 strengthened act, which been principal legal instrument used by citizens seeking access to information about federally funded university research. …