In our experience over the last couple of decades, the priority of institutions is to implement national research integrity codes/standards quickly. This is because if I journalist/politician/ regulator audits the institution’s website, they can be seen to have implemented and complied with the external standard. But quickly implementing what the research community will see as an external set of rules it’s not necessarily the way to resource practice or improve research culture. This work, open access paper (published in July 2023) and the kit it produced, used a more constructive and consultative approach. This publicly available tool is something other institutions should consider using as a foundation of their approach. AHRECS would be delighted to assist you to do so – enquiry@ahrecs.com.
To foster research integrity (RI), research institutions should develop a continuous RI education approach, addressing various target groups. To support institutions to achieve this, we developed RI education guidelines together with RI experts and research administrators, exploring similarities and differences in recommendations across target groups, as well as recommendations about RI education using approaches other than formal RI training. We used an iterative co-creative process. We conducted four half-day online co-creation workshops with 16 participants in total, which were informed by the RI education evidence-base. In the first two workshops, participants generated ideas for guidelines’ content, focusing on different target groups and various approaches to RI education. Based on this content we developed first drafts of the guidelines. Participants in the third and fourth workshop refined those drafts. We next organized a working group which further prioritized, reorganized, and optimized the content of the guidelines. We developed four guidelines on RI education focusing on (a) bachelor, master and PhD students; (b) post-doctorate and senior researchers; (c) other RI stakeholders; as well as (d) continuous RI education. Across guidelines, we recommend mandatory RI training; follow-up refresher training; informal discussions about RI; appropriate rewards and incentives for active participation in RI education; and evaluation of RI educational events. Our work provides experience-based co-created guidance to research institutions on what to consider when developing a successful RI education strategy. Each guideline is offered as a distinct, publicly available tool in our toolbox (www.sops4ri.eu/toolbox) which institutions can access, adapt and implement to meet their institution-specific RI education needs.
Labib, K., Evans, N., Pizzolato, D., Bonn, N.A., Widdershoven, G., Bouter, L., Konach, T., Langendam, M., Dierickx K. & Tijdink. J. (2023) Co-creating Research Integrity Education Guidelines for Research Institutions. Science and Engineering Ethics. 29(28). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-023-00444-2
Publisher (Open Access): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-023-00444-2
