According to the DFG Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice, the principles of good academic practice include „working lege artis, maintaining strict honesty in attributing one’s own contributions and those of others, rigorously questioning all findings, and permitting and promoting critical discourse within the research community. The principles of good research practice are set out in the following guidelines.“^[1]

Based on these principles, the requirements are defined in the Regulations governing the Principles for safeguarding good academic practice at the Carl von Ossietzky University:

1. „Researchers must plan and carry out every individual step in the research process professionally and to the best of their knowledge and belief in accordance with the latest state of knowledge. The University of Oldenburg shall provide the necessary framework conditions for this. In order to identify relevant and appropriate research questions, they shall carefully research research output that has already been made publicly available. When planning a project, the current state of research must be comprehensively taken into account. When carrying out research, they shall apply scientifically sound and comprehensible methods, place particular importance on quality assurance and establishment of standards when developing and applying new methods and examine all results with a critical eye in terms of their plausibility. In doing so, they adhere to the current guidelines issued by the DFG for safeguarding good academic practice. Strict honesty must be maintained with regard to the contributions of partners, supervisors, employees, colleagues, competitors and predecessors. All sources consulted must be mentioned and the traceability of citations must be guaranteed.
    
2. Methods for preventing (unconscious) bias when interpreting findings, for example blinding test series, are used as far as possible. Researchers shall check whether gender and diversity can be significant for the research project (with regard to the methods, work programme, objectives etc.) and if they are, to what extent. The respective framework conditions are taken into account when interpreting findings.
    
3. If researchers have made findings publicly available and subsequently notice discrepancies or errors, they shall correct them. If the discrepancies or errors give rise to the withdrawal of a publication, they shall work with the relevant publisher or infrastructure provider etc. as quickly as possible to ensure that the publication is corrected or withdrawn and that this is identified accordingly. The same shall apply if they are made aware of such discrepancies or errors by third parties.
    
4. The methods, findings and results as well as other primary data used must be adequately documented and stored for at least ten years. Scientific procedures and results must be recorded and documented in a precise and traceable manner, especially if it concerns experimental work, since it is absolutely essential that the research and experiments can be reproduced.
    
5. Documentation and research results must not be manipulated and must be protected against manipulation as well as possible.
    
6. Scientific results are usually communicated to the scientific community in the form of publications and reports. As such, these scientific publications and reports, as well as empirical scientific experiments, are the product of researchers’ work.
    
7. The discipline and subject-specific principles of academic work must be adhered to. This also includes the observance of and compliance with the corresponding legal regulations and voluntary commitments. The Embryo Protection Act, the Stem Cell Law, the Drugs Law, the Medical Devices Act and the Helsinki Declaration must be observed in particular when testing on or with humans and on identifiable human materials. When performing experiments on animals, the provisions of the Animal Protection Act as well as the animal testing regulations must be complied with. If aspects of the research project fall under the scope of the Convention On Biological Diversty (CBD), the DFG guidelines for research projects which fall into this category must be observed. For experiments involving genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the Genetic Engineering Act and corresponding legal regulations must be complied with. If required, researchers shall seek approvals and votes from the Committee for Research Impact Assessment and Ethics or the university’s Medical Ethics Committee.”^[2]

According to the Regulations governing the Principles for safeguarding good academic practice at the Carl von Ossietzky University, academic misconduct occurs „when researchers make false statements either deliberately or through serious negligence, violate the intellectual property or severely impair their research activities of others. The circumstances of the individual case are decisive.

The following acts in particular are regarded as academic misconduct:

1. False declarations […]
    
2. Violations of intellectual property with respect to third-party copyrighted material (including drawings, pictorial representations etc.) or major scientific insights, hypotheses, teachings, or research approaches […]
    
3. Failing to mention or cite authors who made a significant contribution to the research project. The particularities of each scientific discipline must be taken into account […].
    
4. Joint responsibility for academic misconduct can also arise as a result of:
   a) Active involvement in the misconduct of others
   b) Knowledge that someone else has falsified information
   c) Co-authorship of falsified publications
   d) Gross neglect of one’s obligation to monitor scientific research and work".^[3]

„Academic misconduct, in whatever shape or form, violates both the image and credibility of science. Not only does it damage the reputation of the dishonest researcher, but it also tarnishes the reputation of the University and science as a whole. It also casts doubts on the work of other scientists.“^[4]

Labor and service law consequences

Depending on the employment type, different consequences can be considered.
If the person concerned is employed by the University, the disciplinary actions, such as reprimand, warnings, extraordinary termination, regular termination or termination of contract can be considered. 
If the person, who conducted the academic misconduct, is employed by the University in an official role, disciplinary actions may result in reprimand, fine, pay cut, retraction of the appointment and other disciplinary measures. ^[5]

Civil and public actions

„The following civil and public actions are particularly relevant in the event of academic misconduct:

1. Revocation or cancellation of grant decisions, revocation of approved funding or recovery of funding which has already been spent
2. A ban on entering the University
3. Enforcement and, where appropriate, execution of the right to recover possessions against the person concerned, in particular with regard to stolen materials, documents or data
4. Claims for abatement or removal or injunctive relief arising from copyright law, personal rights, patent law and competition law
5. Damage claims on the part of the Carl von Ossietzky University or third parties in the event of personal damage, property damage or any other violation of rights
6. Disqualification of examination results” ^[6]

Academic consequeces

As a consequence of academic misconduct it might be considered to revoke the obtained academic degree. „The revocation of an academic degree (Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, the former German Diploma and Magister degrees, Dr. habil.) or academic titles (lecturer, adjunct professor) will be considered if the academic degree or academic title was achieved based on falsified publications or was otherwise fraudulently obtained.” ^[7]

Another possible consequnce of academic misconduct is the retraction of scientific publications. „If the academic misconduct concerns false information or an infringement of intellectual property or involvement in such misconduct, the author in question must issue a retraction, at least for the affected parts of the publication. If the work in question is still unpublished, the author in question must retract their paper or contribution to the paper in good time.” ^[8]

Criminal actions and administrative offences

„Criminal and administrative actions in the event of academic misconduct are applicable if there is sufficient evidence (initial suspicion) that a criminal act has taken place in accordance with the Criminal Code (StGB), the Administrative Offences Act (OWiG) or other laws” ^[6]

„In order to ensure good academic practice, it is essential that suitable measures are introduced, in other words, measures which prevent academic misconduct from occurring in the first place. [...]” ^[10]

Therefore, the Carl von Ossietzky University provides clear, written principles and procedures for good scientific practice (GSP) for all levels of education and „conveys the importance of adhering to the principles of academic work and good academic practice [...]. ^[11]  In addition, the University creates GSP compliant frame conditions for the scientific staff, such as infrastructures for preserving and saving primary data. ^[12]

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) is an international ethical and scientific standard for the planning, conduct, documentation and reporting of human clinical trials. Adherence to this standard provides public confidence that the rights, safety and well-being of trial subjects are protected in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and that the data collected in the clinical trial are credible^.[13]

Please direct any concrete questions to Dr. Heike Hennig (Head of the Coordination Centre for Clinical Studies (KKS)) and the Medical Ethics Committee.

Regulations governing the principles for safeguarding good academic practice at the Carl von Ossietzky University

DFG-Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice

Research Integrity (DFG)

The German Research Ombudsman

ICH Guideline for Good Clinical Practice