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Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EnTIRE (Mapping Normative Frameworks for EThics and Integrity of REsearch)

Teaser

Recent cases of scientists falsifying and fabricating data threaten the credibility of the scientific community and provides impetus for new actions in support of good research practices. Although the number of serious violations is limited, the changing scientific environment...

Summary

Recent cases of scientists falsifying and fabricating data threaten the credibility of the scientific community and provides impetus for new actions in support of good research practices. Although the number of serious violations is limited, the changing scientific environment presents researchers with a number of challenges, such as publication pressure, declining research funds, pressure to justify public research budgets and the promotion of public-private partnerships. These challenges together can undermine the ability of researchers to make good choices and may lead to questionable research practices.

In response to this situation the field of Research Ethics (RE) and Research Integrity (RI) is rapidly growing and gaining in importance. New codes, regulations and laws have been established all over Europe and world-wide. This results in an increasingly complex and fragmented regulatory landscape. Researchers are in need of up-to-date, easily understandable and useful information on relevant RE+RI regulations, how they should be applied in practice, which tools might promote good research practices, and where to look for support and advice.

Work performed

The goal of EnTIRE is to develop an on-line, open source Wiki based platform, designed by and for the RE+RI community: The Embassy of Good Science (see Annex 1).

The ambition of this community based initiative is to make the RE+RI normative framework accessible, foster active participation of the scientific community, and support the quality of science by making knowledge and experience in RE+RI available and useable.
The platform will ideally become a virtual public space, an open “Embassy”, where users can share experiences and find tools to improve their own and their institution’s practices, but also for both Junior and senior scientists to ask questions and find educational material.

Through a commitment to open source and open data approaches the EnTIRE consortium aims at building a dynamic, customer-tailored, up-to date, sustainable, user-friendly on-line platform.

The four overall objectives of the project are to:

1. Undertake an in-depth stakeholder consultation across EU countries in order to:
• explore RE+RI experiences and practices
• define the boundaries of data to be collected
• develop a mapping structure adapted to user needs (WP2)

2. Assemble the relevant normative elements, including:
• RE+RI rules and procedures (WP3),
• educational materials, and relevant institutions and experts across EU countries (WP4),
• illustrative cases and scenarios (WP5)

3. Develop a user-friendly platform to:
• facilitate access to RE+RI knowledge and experience,
• support application in research and evaluation,
• foster uptake of ethical standards and responsible conduct of research (WP6)

4. Foster the further development of the RE+RI community, in order to:
• support the platform and be supported by it,
• disseminate the project’s findings,
• apply innovative strategies for maintaining the platform through stakeholder participation,
• relate the platform to relevant organizations for further dissemination fostering sustainability (WP7).

Final results

The Embassy of Good Science, will be designed to become a sort of RE+RI Wikipedia, which will be continuously updated by the constant involvement of its users. For this reason the EnTIRE project will create 1) an appealing, useful, high-quality, user-friendly platform, and 2) a community of users and of Ambassadors, which will guarantee the long lasting survival of the platform after the end of the project.
The direct involvement of experts and researchers is essential not only for the selection of relevant content, but also for keeping the platform up-to-date and alive.

In terms of content the EnTIRE consortium will collect and analyze:
• Laws and Regulations
• Guidelines
• Best practices
• Educational tools
• Cases and Scenarios

Content will be described and mapped, in order to make it usable and understandable for a broad, non-expert audience. For instance normative documents will be analyzed so that the retrieved information will be easily available for researchers. This will include making abstracts, providing key words, summaries of relevant parts of the documents, providing electronic links, etc. This analysis and description highlight differences in approaches and allow for comparison and deliberation.

The stakeholder consultation, conducted during the first year of the project, reflected the project’s bottom up approach and provided, the basis for the design of the platform and selection and description of content. This participatory approach shapes all phases of the project; stakeholders are also involved in the evaluation of content and in the design of the key features of the platform. This will result in a dynamic map of the relevant norms, processes, resources and institutions, cases and scenarios, and will in the end lead to the development of a platform tailored to the needs of the research community.

From a users’ perspective, the Embassy will be a place to find usable insights, ask questions, contribute to the analysis of content and upload relevant material (such as laws, training materials and cases).

The core principles that the Embassy of Good Science stands for have been described in a declaration, below, which describes the platform’s identity and aim (see Annex 2).

Taking better care of good science
Public trust in science is crucial. As researchers, we see questionable scientific practices and external pressures. Safeguarding ethics and integrity in scientific research is more important than ever. Yet in Europe there is no central resource containing detailed information on how to perform science responsibly and with integrity. Therefore, we are strongly committed to building a new online platform for the research community.

Inspiring researchers to foster trust
We aim to improve understanding and awareness around good science. Not by naming and shaming but by taking a positive approach that will set a standard for all of us. We are convinced that integrity in research will benefit from a transparent and up-to-date platform. This will inspire current and future generations of researchers. If we as a community don’t act to foster good science, who will?

Enabling our community to take control
The new platform will offer help to anyone seeking support in handling day-to-day research practices and dilemmas. It will provide relevant rules and best-practice guidelines, cases and tools for learning and education. The ultimate goal is for the research community itself to actively participate in the platform – and take control of it. Together, we will share experiences and insights, deepening understanding and continuously contributing to the development of good science.

And that’s where you come in

The Embassy of Good Science will be online in the beginning of 2019, and available for try-out at the WCRI meeting in Hong Kong. Stay tuned!

Website & more info

More info: http://entireconsortium.eu/.