The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity
In 2023, All European Academies (ALLEA) launched a revised edition of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. ALLEA is an association of European science academies established in 1994, and the document was first published in 2011. The guidelines are an important resource for the work with research integrity in Europe, and they are adapted into Norwegian by the National Research Ethics Committees (FEK) on behalf of the Ministry of Education (KD).
In Norway, the organization of research ethics work is regulated in the Research Ethics Act (2017), while the content of research ethics is anchored in the professional environment and laid down in guidelines for various subject areas. Here, the national research ethics committees (NEM, NENT and NESH) play an important advisory role, while the National Commission for the Investigation of Research Misconduct is responsible for handling cases of misconduct. In addition, medical and healthcare research is regulated in the Health Research Act and other special laws. Because the subject areas are different, and the regulation of research ethics varies in different areas, there can, however, be challenges related to interdisciplinary and international collaboration. Therefore, FEK has been commissioned by KD to draw up common research ethics guidelines.
The situation in Norway is not unique, and work on research ethics varies across national borders. For example, a report from NordForsk (2014) showed that the systems in the five Nordic countries were completely different. The situation in Europe is also complex, and in 2011 ALLEA and the European Science Foundation (ESF) launched the first edition of The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity as a joint framework. The systems are even more diverse globally, so there are several initiatives for international harmonisation, and ALLEA's European guidelines link to this global development. Internationally, there is also a conceptual shift where research ethics is subordinated to an administrative concept of research integrity.
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In Norwegian, the term "research integrity" is rarely used, and ambiguities can arise related to the translation of the term. In Norway, we have a tradition and a system for research ethics, supplemented by a system for investigating research misconduct. ALLEA's concept of "research integrity" includes both parts. Here it is not primarily about the researcher having integrity in an ethical sense, but rather about practices and systems that will ensure the integrity of the research.
You can find The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity here.