ESF Member Organisation Forum on Research Integrity

About

Outcome


The work of the ESF Member Organisation Forum on Research Integrity together with ALLEA produced the consensus document “The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity”, launched at the Second World Conference on Research Integrity held in July 2010. The code addresses good practice and bad conduct in science, offering a basis for trust and integrity across national borders.


This Europe-wide code offers a reference point for all researchers, complementing existing codes of ethics and complying with national and European legislative frameworks.  It is not intended to replace existing national or academic guidelines, but represents agreement across 30 countries on a set of principles and priorities for self-regulation of the research community. It provides a possible model for a global code of conduct for all research. 

 
The term ‘research misconduct’ embraces many things, including insufficient care for the people, animals or objects that are the subject of or participants in research; breaches of confidentiality, violation of protocols, carelessness of the kind that leads to gross error and improprieties of publication involving conflict of interest or appropriation of ideas. Many of these unacceptable research practices are addressed in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.


The Forum has also developed guidelines for setting-up national structures that can be found on the report “Fostering Research Integrity in Europe”.
The Code has been developed from meetings and workshops from the ESF Member Organisation Forum on Research Integrity that assembled 31 research funding and performing organisations from 22 countries, together with the All European Academies (ALLEA).

Reported in Nature, Time Higher Education, The Lancet and the Nature Blog The Great Beyond  among others. See full media coverage

Aims

Address policy for research integrity.

Objectives .

  • Exchange good practice
  • Support organisations without structures to learn from the experiences of others and to initiate debates in their respective communities about adequate models.
  • Channel European input into the 2nd World Conference on  Research Integrity, Singapore, July 2010                        

Actions

  • Develop a European Code of Conduct
  • Develop Guidelines for setting-up national structures
  • Raise awareness


Strategic Alignment


With Action 10 of the EUROHORCs and ESF Vision on a Globally Competitive ERA and their Road Map for Actions


For more information please contact mo-fora@esf.org