Professionalism and integrity in research

In the academic year 2020-2021 this course will take place online.

You can only enrol for one edition of this course.

Academic researchers are frequently faced with dilemmas: Can I exclude particular observations from my research? Can I use exactly the same data set for multiple papers? Should I agree on a colleague being a co-author on a paper to which he/she has not made a significant contribution?

To help junior researchers address these issues, this workshop will seek to raise awareness for, and where necessary help increase, scientific professionalism and integrity.

During the first part of the workshop, the instructor and junior researchers will, in two highly interactive lectures, discuss the context of the principles, values and rules as they apply to the fields of the social sciences and the humanities research in general, and to our university in particular.

The afternoon section is reserved for the EUR Dilemma Game, which includes in-depth discussions in smaller groups on particular dilemmas. Through the game researchers are invited to exchange opinions and experiences, and defend (and possibly reconsider) alternative courses of action regarding realistic dilemmas on professionalism and integrity in research.

The 75 dilemmas included in the game have been collected through sessions at different EUR departments and institutions, and among researchers that use different research strategies and are in different stages of their careers.

According to the Erasmus University Doctoral Regulations, all academic employees and PhD candidates of Erasmus need to sign an integrity code through which they vow to comply with the principles described in The Netherlands Code of Conduct for Academic Practice (pdf). The academic integrity declaration will be signed by all participants at the end of the workshop.

The workshop aims to support PhD candidates in further developing and honing their 'moral compass'.

In order to actively participate, participants are required to prepare an example from their research or supervision experience(s) which they felt compromised scientific integrity. You will discuss this further in class.

Participants also need to read the following literature in advance:

• EUR webpage on the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity of ALLEA (Academies of Science and Humanities in Europe)
• EUR webpage on scientific integrity 
• VSNU, 'The Netherlands Code of Conduct for Academic Practice' (revised 2018)
• The National Academy Press 'On being a scientist: a guide to responsible conduct in research (3rd ed.)
• Martinson, Anderson and de Vries, 'Scientists behaving badly', Nature 435 (2005)
• Albert and Wager, 'How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers', The COPE report (2003)
• Stroebe, Postmes and Spears, 'Scientific misconduct and the myth of self-correction in science', Perspectives on Psychological Science', 7 (2012).