Science Europe publishes integrity report
A new document has been published by Science Europe’s Working Group on Research Integrity.
The brochure, entitled ‘Seven Reasons to Care about Integrity in Research’, sets out the key reasons why research organisations care about promoting research integrity amongst their community. The publication of the report comes ahead of the second day of the two-day conference entitled ‘Opening up to an ERA of innovation’ taking place in Brussels.
In the report, Science Europe says: ‘Research integrity is intrinsic to research activity and excellence. It is at the core of research itself. It is a basis for researchers to trust each other as well as the research record, and, equally importantly, it is the basis of society’s trust in research evidence and expertise. Research misconduct is not a victimless crime and can damage reputations, careers, patients and the public. It is also a waste of public investment in research and is costly to remediate.’
The reasons cited in the report are: ‘Research integrity safeguards the foundations of science and scholarship’; ‘Research integrity maintains public confidence in researchers and research evidence’; ‘Research integrity underpins continued public investment in research’; and ‘Research integrity protects the reputation and careers of researchers’.
The remaining three motives are: ‘Research integrity prevents adverse impact on patients and the public’; ‘Research integrity promotes economic advancement’; and ‘Research integrity prevents avoidable waste of resources’. The full report by the working group can be read here. Science Europe is an association of major European research funding and research performing organisations in 27 countries, established in 2011 to promote the collective interest of its members and to foster collaboration between them.
