Basic principles

To promote virtuous research, the federation of European universities (All European Academies; ALLEA) and the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL; former Vereniging Samenwerkende Nederlandse Universiteiten; VSNU) have both issued a Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Their basic principles form the starting point for thinking about and determining what good research entails.

The following five principles underlie the Dutch Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. We cite the description of those principles here extensively, as they form the basis for this Amsterdam UMC Research Code. Specific chapters of the Amsterdam UMC Research Code that relate to these principles are referred to below.

1. Honesty

“Honesty means, among other things, reporting the research process accurately, taking alternative opinions and counterarguments seriously, being open about margins of uncertainty, refraining from making unfounded claims, refraining from fabricating or falsifying data or sources and refraining from presenting results more favourably or unfavourably than they actually are.” [see Chapters Dealing with the media, and Research misconduct: bad practices, prevention and dealing with suspected violations].

2. Scrupulousness

“Scrupulousness means, among other things, using methods that are scientific or scholarly and exercising the best possible care in designing, undertaking, reporting and disseminating research.” [see Chapter Research data management].

3. Transparancy

“Transparency means, among other things, ensuring that it is clear to others what data the research was based on, how the data were obtained, how the results were achieved and what role was played by external stakeholders. If parts of the research or data are not to be made public, the researcher must provide a good account of why this is not possible. It must be evident, at least to peers, how the research was conducted and what the various phases of the research process were. At the very least,this means that the line of reasoning must be clear and that the steps in the research process must be verifiable.” [see Chapters Research data management and Conflicts of interest].

4. Independence

“Independence means, among other things, not allowing the choice of method, the assessment of data, the weight attributed to alternative statements or the assessment of others’ research or research proposals to be guided by non-scientific or non-scholarly considerations e.g., those of a commercial or political nature. In this sense, independence also includes impartiality. Independence is required at all times in the design, conduct and reporting of research, although not necessarily in the choice of research topic and research question.” [see Chapters Research collaboration agreements and Peer review of research proposals and manuscripts].

5. Responsibility

“Responsibility means, among other things, acknowledging the fact that a researcher does not operate in isolation and hence taking into consideration—within reasonable limits—the legitimate interests of human and animal test subjects, as well as those of commissioning parties, funding bodies and the environment. Responsibility also includes contributing to a safe research environment where colleagues, employees and subordinates are stimulated to perform research which adheres to the virtues described here. Responsibility also means conducting research that is scientifically and/or societally relevant.” [see Chapters Dealing with laboratory animals and Dealing with human subjects involved in research].