The UB Code of Conduct for Research Integrity is available
“Honesty in the commitment to truth; independence in the preservation of freedom of action in relation to pressures outside the profession; and impartiality in the neutrality of professional practice in relation to private interests outside the research” is the definition of scientific integrity in which this yearʼs Code of Conduct for Research Integrity of the UB is inspired. The document recognizes and updates the Code of Good Research Practices of the UB, approved in 2010, which is replaced and uses as its base the Code of Ethics on Integrity and Best Practices of the UB approved in 2018.
“Honesty in the commitment to truth; independence in the preservation of freedom of action in relation to pressures outside the profession; and impartiality in the neutrality of professional practice in relation to private interests outside the research” is the definition of scientific integrity in which this yearʼs Code of Conduct for Research Integrity of the UB is inspired. The document recognizes and updates the Code of Good Research Practices of the UB, approved in 2010, which is replaced and uses as its base the Code of Ethics on Integrity and Best Practices of the UB approved in 2018.
The UB Code of Conduct for Research Integrity involves specific chapters to fulfil the new requirements in the field of research, mainly promoted by the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, carried out by the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA), which the European Comission recognizes as a model document for European institutions. Also, the Code establishes the protocols to manage those cases of fraud, inacceptable practices and wrong conducts.
The main objectives of the UB Code of Research Integrity -approved by the Governing council on May 15, 2020-, are to improve the quality, impact and results of research in all fields. It wants to establish mechanisms to guarantee scientific integrity, provide good practices on research for the research staff, and promote the research integrity culture.
The document is based on six principles: honesty, responsibility and accountability, reliability, rigour, respect and independence. In particular, it aims at the professional honesty as a key value to identify and promote. In this sense, it has a section dedicated to scientific and academic integrity, which treats basic questions such as the respect for intellectual authorship of the academic work. It refers to the cases of scientific fraud such as plagiarism, falsification, invention or fabrication of results and appropriation of ideas, work or data from other people without citing the original source.
This code affects all research structures and agents of the UB: teaching and research staff, research teams, in-training research staff and administration and service staff related to research, as well as departments and institutes and research centres.
The different chapters include information describing the role of the principal researcher, and how the leadership and organization of research structures should be. Also, there is a chapted related to the supervision of doctoral theses and how to carry out the supervision of the PhD students and predoctoral research staff.
Other themes it treats are, for instance, the planning and monitoring of research, methodology, adaption of facilities and equipment and treatment of research results as well as the management of personal and research data, its publication and promotion of open science. It also includes topics related to safety, health and the environment, and aspects of research related to human beings and experimental animals. Last, it includes a chapter on conflicts of interests and it finishes with the sections on detection and management of cases of fraud and wrong conducts.
The Code anticipates the creation of the Research Integrity Committee of the UB, which should act as a collegiate body to assess the potential cases of unfulfillment of research integrity according to the action protocol described in this document.
This Code has been promoted by the Vice-rectorʼs Office of Research and counts on the participation from experts and units of the UB that participated actively in its creation.
Link to the Code in Catalan, Spanish and English.