A national watchdog that has the power to punish British universities for failing to tackle research misconduct is needed to ensure that sloppy practices and outright fraud are caught and dealt with fast, MPs say.

The new body would rule on whether universities have properly investigated allegations of malpractice and have the authority to recommend research funds be withdrawn or even reclaimed when it finds that inquiries into alleged wrongdoing have fallen short.

While serious research fraud is thought to be rare in British universities, a quarter of institutions fail to report cases of potential malpractice, according a survey by the Commons science and technology committee which urged ministers to set up the new watchdog in a report on research integrity published Wednesday.

Under a 2013 concordat, UK universities are supposed to publish annual reports that list all their investigations into alleged malpractice that year. But even though compliance with the concordat is a prerequisite for receiving funds from UK funding councils, “meaningful sanctions have never been deployed,” the report states.

Norman Lamb MP. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

“This has to be taken far more seriously,” said Norman Lamb, chair of the committee. “Institutions with track records have been destroyed by scandals and crises. The danger is that something comes along out of the blue that completely undermines public trust.”

It's not credible when universities report no investigations year after year, as if nothing ever goes wrong

One recent case of misconduct centred on Paolo Macchiarini, a visiting professor at the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who was hailed as a pioneer in regenerative medicine for transplanting the world’s first synthetic windpipes into patients between 2011 and 2013. But he was later dismissed for scientific and clinical misconduct when it emerged he had exaggerated the success of the work. All but one of his patients have since died. The scandal led to a flurry of resignations, including that of Anders Hamsten, the institute’s vice chancellor.

Twenty universities told the MPs that they had not investigated any cases of misconduct since they signed the UK’s research integrity concordat year ago. But Lamb said that was troubling given the pressure researchers are under to cut corners and publish what appear to be impressive results. “At the very least it raises concerns when universities report zero investigations year after year, particularly when they do a lot of research. It’s not really credible to imagine nothing ever goes wrong,” he said.

Other institutions, including the University of South Wales, the University of Bedfordshire, Middlesex University and Birkbeck University in London said they did not publish reports on malpractice cases because of confidentiality issues. The Master of Birkbeck, Professor David Latchman, has been investigated for research misconduct himself several times. The latest formal investigation at University College London accused him of “recklessness” for allowing research fraud to happen on his watch at UCL’s Institute of Child Health. He was investigated after a whistleblower alleged malpractice in dozens of research papers published by his group.

The MPs’ report calls for the UK’s research integrity concordat to be strengthened so that annual reporting becomes the norm, whistleblowers are better protected, and that investigations are transparent and robust. For the most serious cases, independent experts should be appointed to investigation panels to ensure universities are not tempted to cover up wrongdoing.

The watchdog, or ‘national research integrity committee’, would mirror a system already in place in Canada and be run by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the government’s main research funding body.

“We’re asking the sector and the UKRI to take the lead on this by establishing this committee to head off demands for statutory regulations which will inevitably follow when there’s a scandal which, as sure as night follows day, there will be at some stage,” Lamb said.

A UKRI spokesman said the funder would give “careful consideration” to the report’s recommendations.

“Creating a strong and responsible culture is crucial to enable the best research and innovation and to gain and maintain public trust,” he said. “We are committed to working with stakeholders, both in the UK and internationally, to use our position as the UK’s largest public sector funder of research and innovation to lead positive behavioural change.”