Research Ethics – Open Learning

Research Context

Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity
Responsible Conduct of Research 2023

Research environment  

Ensure that people know about the RCR guideline and can access it easily. Provide appropriate policies and tools for the responsible and traceable handling and management of data produced by research. Investigate alleged violations of responsible conduct of research without delay in accordance with the RCR process described later in this guideline. Treat the instigator of the allegation and the person alleged of violation fairly during and after the process.

Expert and review tasks

Carry out scientific expert and review tasks transparently, justifiably and confidentially and in compliance with the regulations on disqualification laid down in the Administrative Procedure Act. Respect the rights of authors and applicants in expert and review tasks, for example in relation to ideas, research data or interpretations. Comply with the responsible evaluation of researchers, research activities and research organisations. Report sources of funding and other commitments to the partners and targets of scientific activities and to publications. 

Activities that violate responsible conduct of research

Disregard related to benefiting from scholarly status:

•  Failure to declare significant commitments in scientific activities
• Breach of confidentiality in the peer review process
• Inappropriate use of influence

Disregard related to the RCR process:

• Harassment aimed at the RCR process or related parties
• Hampering the work or career development of a member of the research community who has instigated an RCR violation allegation
• Submitting a malicious notification of alleged RCR violation

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The context in which a researcher works has a great influence on his/her choices. Societal values and norms of the surrounding society direct researchers in the same way as others. Promoting some specific values or addressing some societal problems may be the reason why we want to do research and on the topic we have chosen. Different stakeholders also can have significantly different ways to view our research. 

While values and interests  positively motivate our research, at the same time they create a risk for a conflict of interest and bias. Therefore the research ethical focus is on potential conflicts of interest and biases that may influence and risk research integrity. This means the conflict or bias may distort the way research is done and how it is reported. The influence is negative if research becomes unreliable and/or non-transparent as a result.

Conflict of interest is a serious risk to research integrity. Further, conflict of interest is a potential risk in every research project. The following presentation outlines how a conflict of interest may relate to your research work and why it is so important to manage any potential conflict of interest early and openly. You may also find the blog by H2020 INTEGRITY Project interesting. 

Lecture - On Conflict of Interest

Transcript

Handout

B1.2. Mandatory Reflective Activity - Subjectivity Statement

B1.1. Case Study: Research Context

B1.2. Case Study - Industrially-sponsored research and confidentiality

B1.3. Case Study - Industrially-sponsored research and conflict of interests

B1.1. Optional Reflective Activity - Your research context

Resources:

• Conflict of Interest in Biomedical Research - Hastings Centre (extensive text with real cases)
• Conflict of Interest - Resources for Research Ethics Education (guidelines, case studies, background theory)
• Conflict of Interest - University of Alaska Fairbanks (short clear summary of conflict of interest issues)
• Izet Masic (2012) - Ethical aspects and dilemmas of preparing, writing and publishing of the scientific papers in biomedical journals. (Useful content for all disciplines)