Anti-Corruption Research Challenge

The Public Integrity Indicators (PIIs) measure countries’ resilience to corruption risks. The PIIs provide actionable data on corruption vulnerabilities across the public sector to support decision-makers in strengthening national integrity systems. The portal contains data on 38 OECD Member countries and three non-OECD Members across six dimensions. Currently there are data available on the quality of the strategic framework, accountability of public policymaking (covering lobbying, political finance, conflict-of-interest prevention, and transparency of public information), and corruption risk management, internal control and internal audit. The PIIs fill a vacuum of reliable evidence on what steps governments should take to curb corruption risks, drawing on the OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity and existing international normative frameworks from bodies such as the OECD, the United Nations, the European Union, and the Council of Europe. The data can also be employed for private sector organisations’ corruption risk assessment.

Drawing on administrative data, instead of public perceptions or expert ratings, the PIIs blend both indicators on the strength of laws and regulations (de jure) and indicators on their implementation in practice (de facto). Most indicators consist of a checklist of “fulfilled” or “not fulfilled” criteria, supplemented with several numerical key performance indicators. The PIIs address a need for reliable, actionable evidence to support government stakeholders in their anti-corruption reform efforts. Additional information on the methodology employed to build the PIIs is available by contacting publicintegrityindicators@oecd.org.

With datasets downloadable for further research, these indicators benchmark country performance and provide an evidence-based approach to developing and implementing better integrity policies for better lives. The OECD is launching a research challenge employing the PII data to initiate a dialogue between the public sector, businesses and civil society on evidence-based approaches to tackling corruption and enhancing public integrity.

We invite researchers, students and practitioners from diverse regional and disciplinary backgrounds to propose novel insights using the PIIs, create data visualisations and provide actionable evidence for anti-corruption policies across OECD-member countries.

Submissions will be evaluated based on five equally weighted dimensions:

• Originality of proposal
• Relevance for policies in anti-corruption and public integrity
• Comprehensiveness of analysis
• Clarity of the argument
• Presentation

We welcome submissions of research papers of no more than 2000 words in length, written in either of the two official OECD languages (English and French) containing at least one original PII data visualisation. Submissions can be authored or co-authored by no more than three contributors, and their full names and affiliations should be stated in the paper. If applicable, the code used for data analysis, must be enclosed.

The deadline for submissions is midnight on 6 January 2025.

Submissions will be only received via email at publicintegrityindicators@oecd.org. Entries after the deadline will not be considered. 

The winner(s) of the research challenge will be invited to attend the Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum in March 2025 and to contribute an OECD blog entry summarising the findings of the research paper. The OECD will cover travel and accommodation expenses.