Resource of the Week #82: An International Report on Responsible Research

Hello again. Our resource this week is the new publication Responsible Conduct in the Global Research Enterprise: A Policy Report.

As stated in its foreword, the report is “a guide to basic values that govern the conduct of research and the communication of research results”. The report also recommends actions “to ensure and maintain the integrity of research”.

This report is from the InterAcademy Council (a multinational organization of science academies) and IAP – the global network of science academies.

In the report, recommendations regarding communication include the following:

• “Researchers should agree in the early stages of a research project as to who will be listed as author in publications emerging from that project and the criteria for determining the order of authors.”
• “Peer reviewers need to assess proposed publications fairly and promptly, with full disclosure of conflicts of interest or bias.”
• “Researchers need to communicate the policy implications of their results clearly and comprehensively to policy makers and the public—including a clear assessment of the uncertainties associated with their results—while avoiding advocacy based on their authority as researchers.”

I encourage you to look at this report and to share it with others.

Until the next post—

Barbara