The African Research Integrity Network (ARIN), a partnership to promote ethical research practices across the continent, was officially launched on Tuesday after years of operating as an informal body of practitioners. This work is much needed in Africa which, along with some other regions, faces huge challenges with research integrity.
The African Research Integrity Network should be congratulated for this step, which will be especially helpful for research that involves collaboration between countries in the African continent. In our experience, Research Integrity programs are most effective when they are focussed on good practice, rather than the handling of research misconduct.
In accordance with its constitution, it will operate with interim officials, many of them founding members who include research professionals and ethicists, the network’s convener, Francis Kombe, told the 7th World Conference on Research Integrity hosted by the University of Cape Town in South Africa from 28 May to 1 June.
“We will be guided by African perspectives, values and principles of inclusive thinking in our operations, and our main objective will remain to sustain dialogue on research integrity on our continent,” the Kenyan research ethics specialist told a plenary session on ‘Fostering Research Integrity: Perspectives from African researchers’, at the launch.
