A Newly Published Resource on Research Ethics

Greetings again. I hope you’re doing well.

Earlier this month I attended the 2016 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting. This meeting included sessions on many topics in science. It also included sessions on science policy, science communication, and scientific ethics.

The ethics session “Fostering Integrity in Science: An Action Agenda” featured introduction of a newly published book. This book, titled Doing Global Science: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in the Global Research Enterprise, is a brief introduction to research ethics.

This book is a project of the InterAcademy Partnership, an organization that brings together academies of science from more than 100 countries. The committee that developed the book includes members from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.

The book has 10 chapters:

      1. Responsible Conduct of Research and the Global Context: An Overview

      2. Planning and Preparing for Research

      3. Preventing the Misuse of Research and Technology

      4. Carrying Out Research

      5. The Researcher’s Responsibilities to Society

      6. Preventing and Addressing Irresponsible Practices

      7. Aligning Incentives with Responsible Research

      8. Reporting Research Results

      9. Benefits and Challenges of International Collaborations

    10. Communicating with Policymakers and the Public

Some features of this book make it especially appealing: The text, which an award-winning science writer helped to write, is very readable. The book includes scenarios to discuss. And each chapter starts with a cartoon by science cartoonist Sidney Harris.

This book is available as a free PDF file. I encourage you to look at it.

Until the next post—

Barbara