Research Integrity and Research Security have emerged as increasingly significant components of the collaborative research environment. Government funding agencies and research support organizations have enhanced requirements pertaining to research misconduct, questionable research practices, disclosure, training, risk management, and protection against foreign interference, misappropriation, and related challenges to the research ecosystem.

At the SciTS Annual Conferences, I have previously presented the influence of Research Integrity on Team Science (SciTS 2024) and a comparative study of Research Security policies (SciTS 2025). In this study, I define research integrity as the active adherence to ethical principles, professional standards, and transparent methods throughout the research process, from proposal to reporting. Additionally, I define research security as the expected adherence safeguarding research from misappropriation, foreign government interference, and other related theft.

This research examines the continuous influence of research integrity and research security on collaborative research, addressing the gap in understanding their impact on collaborative leadership and capacity in team science. The study seeks to answer the question: How do research integrity and research security governance influence collaborative leadership and the capacity of team science to foster trust and sustain interdisciplinary and international collaboration?

This study examines research integrity and research security as compliance mechanisms or national policy responses at both national and organizational levels. It also considers them as team-level and individual-level governance conditions that influence researchers' partnerships, data sharing, information exchange, shared responsibility definitions, and trust maintenance. This reframing directly addresses the SciTS 2026 focus on methods, mindsets, and impact by linking macro-level analysis to the micro- and meso-level analysis that comprehend governance pressures with the daily individual engagement and efforts that sustain and advance collaboration in team science.

Utilizing a qualitative comparative research methodology, this study investigates the policy development of research integrity and research security in the United States and Canada, as well as its institutional translation. The analysis employs a policy content analysis of national and federal research guidance, institutional compliance resources, and publicly accessible governance structures (Hall & Steiner, 2020). The study examines how these policy instruments (National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in the United States; Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) influence key dimensions of international scientific collaboration, including team formation, partner selection, responsibility assignment, information sharing, data management, authorship coordination, disclosure requirements, research oversight, and others.

The study presents three grounded propositions: research governance as the boundaries of legitimate collaboration, administrative oversight as a means of enhancing accountability, and advancing team science through procedures, certification, and disclosure. Research integrity and research security now influence collaboration, team coordination, and the balance between openness and protection. For team science scholars, this offers a novel policy framework for comprehending anticipated collaboration conditions. For policymakers and research administrators, it underscores the necessity of assessing not only the implementation of research integrity and research security measures but also their impact on the collaborative performance of team science.