Research integrity
The Amsterdam Law School finds research integrity of the utmost importance including the ethical aspects of scientific and scholarly research. The faculty endorses the principles of professional academic practice. Everyone involved in research and teaching is responsible for safeguarding academic integrity.
When it comes to teaching and research, UvA employees have wide freedom in terms of their choice of subjects and research methods, how they inform themselves, present themselves in public and publish their work. At the same time, they have a duty to justify the choices they make and to conduct research with integrity, meaning in a reliable, honest, careful and responsible manner. It is important to create an open research culture in which researchers work together, discuss problems and solutions and admit to errors. Researchers should be able to discuss the standards for good research practices and hold each other accountable for compliance with these standards.
Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity
In 2018, on the initiative of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Associated Applied Research Institutes (TO2 Federation), the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences and the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity has been drawn up. The Code of Conduct has been adopted by all universities and includes the 5 principles which form the basis of integrity in research:
- Honesty
- Scrupulousness
- Transparency
- Independence
- Responsibility
These principles are further elaborated into 61 standards for good research practices and are linked to different stages of research: research design, conducting research, the reporting of results, assessment and peer review and communication to the public.
Dealing with alleged cases of research misconduct
The Dutch universities strive to ensure that researchers can and do adhere to the standards for good research practices. The universities take research misconduct very seriously, making every effort to prevent and trace instances of research misconduct. Everyone, both society as well as the academic world itself, should be able to trust that scientific and scholarly research meets the necessary standards of integrity.
Confidential advisers for research integrity
If there is a suspicion that academic integrity has been violated, students, staff and others can contact one of the UvA’s confidential advisers. They are easily accessible and act as the first point of contact for questions and concerns about academic integrity.
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