Good scientific practice

Last year, the DFG revised its rules for "Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" and adapted them to the changes in scientific practice brought about by digitalization.

The "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" were adopted by the General Assembly on 3 July 2019 and came into force on 1 August 2019. The aim is to provide scientists, as well as the management of universities and research institutions, with guidance on good scientific practice. The focus is on professional ethics rather than possible violations.

The Code consists of 19 guidelines, which are dealt with in three levels of abstraction. The top level has a high degree of abstraction. This is followed by the explanatory notes as the second level, which explain the top level in more detail. The third level will be implemented in fall 2019. It is not contained in the Code itself, but is a dynamic web document that will consist of case studies, subject-specific explanations and FAQs.

The 19 guidelines are divided into three sections. The first section deals with general principles and consists of 6 guidelines. The main section focuses on the research process and consists of 11 guidelines. The final section is the procedure in the event of non-compliance with the rules, with a further two guidelines.
 

The general principles deal with topics such as the responsibility of scientists for the implementation of the principles and for the training of young researchers. In addition, there is the responsibility that the institutions and heads of institutions, as well as working groups, have for the implementation of and compliance with the principles. It is pointed out that several criteria should be used for performance evaluation and that qualitative criteria should be taken into account in particular. The need to appoint an ombudsperson is also pointed out.

The guidelines in the area of the research process are based on the research process. Guideline 7 calls for continuous quality assurance throughout the entire research process in accordance with subject-specific standards. This is explained in more detail in the other guidelines. Guideline 8 is also overarching and requires that the roles of the actors are always clearly defined for everyone throughout the entire research process.

Guideline 9 begins the concrete research process with the research design. Here, reference is made to thorough research into preliminary work and methods. Guideline 10 deals with the legal and ethical framework and rights of use. Scientists are called upon to handle freedom of research responsibly and to take into account rights and obligations arising from legal requirements and third-party contracts. This also includes research impact assessments and agreements on which rights of use should be assigned to the research results and research data arising from the research project.

Guideline 11 refers to the use and precise documentation of methods and standards. Guideline 12 requires that the documentation of research is carried out in such a comprehensible manner that results can be reviewed and evaluated. Individual results that do not support the research hypothesis should also be documented.

Guideline 13 deals with the creation of public access to research results. In principle, it is assumed that all results will be published. It is up to the researchers to decide whether, how and where they want to publish their results. Guideline 14 deals with authorship. It defines more precisely which contributions constitute (co-)authorship. Honorary authorships are rejected. Guideline 15 deals with the publication medium. Authors are requested to choose the publication medium carefully.

Guideline 16 deals with confidentiality and neutrality in reviews and consultations. Guideline 17 deals with archiving. The rule is still a retention period of 10 years.

The last section deals with the procedure for non-compliance with good scientific practice. It is important that the presumption of innocence applies and that the rights of both the whistleblower and the accused are protected as far as possible. Confidentiality is seen as the overriding principle. There should be no disadvantages for the accused until the final conclusion of the proceedings. As long as the whistleblower has acted in good faith, there must be no disadvantages for them either.

All universities and research institutions that wish to receive funding from the DFG must implement these new guidelines by July 31, 2021.