Mandated by the EU Commission, ALLEA – All European Academies has consulted YEAR in the review process of the EU Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.
A first version of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity was co-written by ESF – European Science Foundation, and ALLEA – All European Academies, in 2011. The document describes the principles of research integrity and presents a set of rules for good scientific practices to ensure the highest integrity in research work in Europe. The Code also integrates a dedicated part to the treatment of research misconduct at the institutional level in the view to maintain the overall research integrity.
The EU Commission mandated ALLEA to revisit the 2011’s version of the Code to improve it and update it with the recent developments in the research framework (e.g. Open Science) in order to make the Code a reference document. ALLEA decided to consult YEAR among other stakeholders due to our active involvement in the Open Science policies, and to get the views from the early-career researchers in Europe.
| The review process consists of 2 stages | |
| Phase 1 – Aug-Sep 2016: YEAR and other consulted stakeholder organisations were requested to send their general view of the document and propose perspectives over issues that are not included or not treated adequately in the 2011’s version. | Phase 2 – Nov-Dec 2016: based on the feedbacks gathered throughout Phase 1, a writing group led by ALLEA shall send out a new draft version of the Code so that the consulted stakeholders can provide feedbacks on content and structure on the updated Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. |
Regarding Phase 1, the general review sent by YEAR can be found here. The review was written in the perspective of a researcher reading the Code and it especially pointed out:
| ¤ The necessity to further develop the proposed principle of “Responsibility for the scientists and researchers of the future” which addresses how institutions and senior scientists shall integrate and train the early-career scientists. |
| ¤ The requisite for early-career researchers to read through this document, especially the “Guidelines for Good Practice”, to start their career with the proper framework |
| ¤ The need for updating the guidelines in the light of the recent EU developments towards Open Science |
| ¤ The need to further address HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) as a central topic in research integrity |
| ¤ The lack of proper distribution of the Code within the research institutions |
| ¤ The potential of relying upon infography to illustrate the Code’s principles and ease its reading |
To best represent the views of early-career researchers throughout Phase 2, YEAR will prepare a survey to send to its members as soon as the new draft version is sent and relevant topical issues emerge.