Stewards of Integrity: Institutional Approaches to Promote and Safeguard Good Research Practice in Europe

56 pages.In December 2000, the European Science Foundation published a Science Policy Briefing entitled Good Scientific Practice in Research and Scholarship. The time was not coincidental. During the 1990s, there were many major cases of research misconduct that were widely publicised in both the scientific and general media.As research organisations in various countries were undertaking efforts to tackle the problem, there was a need to learn from each other’s experiences and with the idea of the European Research Area (ERA) then burgeoning, discussions began on whether there should be coordinated efforts at the European level.The ESF Science Policy Briefing No. 10 surveyed the then existing policies and practices in Europe and discussed the responsibilities of researchers and research organisations. It called upon ESF Member Organisations, to act, in their diverse roles, as stewards of research integrity.To this end, the European Science Foundation collected information from its Member Organisations and other relevant bodies, and this resulting report presents the policies, approaches and practices to foster good scientific practice found in several European countries.Although the report is not exhaustive both in terms of countries and institutions covered, it provides a basis for an overview of mechanisms to promote good research practice and to handle cases of alleged research misconduct that exist in different European countries.This work and publication was part-funded by the European Commission (Contract No GNBL-2007-00002).Peer reviewe