Handbook for Research
Section III: Guidelines for Reporting Research Results
Grant Applications
Grant applications, although not categorized as publications, also constitute public documents in that they are scrutinized by scientists from several other institutions. Moreover, grants funded by government agencies are open upon request to any citizen through the Freedom of Information Act. Professional integrity, as well as the interest of the applicant and the scientific community as a whole, demands that results are presented accurately, and that published or unpublished contributions of colleagues are duly acknowledged.
Grant applications may and usually do report the results of preliminary or pilot studies which, by definition, remain to be substantiated. However, statements such as "preliminary experiments indicate..." must have a factual underpinning and truthfully reflect the outcome of experiments to date as evidenced by the primary data.