Project R-5959

Cultivating integrity in biomedical research: culture, changes, challenges (Research)

Research integrity is high on the agenda of many institutions. Several issues, however, complicate the determination of an appropriate strategy to cultivate research integrity in practice. First, the key concept of 'integrity' refers to quite different notions, ranging from compliance with formal rules to scientific excellence that goes far beyond these rules. Second, current and proposed strategies to foster research integrity may not all be efficacious or ethically appropriate. Third, given that research integrity is both an individual and an institutional responsibility, it is difficult to adeqately define responsibilities. Fourth, a coherent approach to the problems is lacking, since the efforts of various key players (researchers, their host institutions, funding agencies, and scientific journals) are not coordinated. Finally, the current research climate may render research more prone to scientific misconduct. In this project, we will address this predicament in the Belgian and Dutch biomedical research setting. The main objective is to serve the current and future approaches to research integrity in Flanders and the Netherlands by (1) providing the current and future efforts with a solid theoretical and normative backbone, (2) analysing the current problems and approaches in Flanders and the Netherlands, and (3) determining an ethically appropriate way forward.

01 January 2015 - 31 December 2018