Research Ethics & Integrity
Research Ethics & Integrity Hub
Responsible research protects participants, sustains public trust, and ensures that the scholarly record remains accurate and reliable across disciplines and contexts.
Principles and Importance of Research Ethics
Most international and national frameworks describe research ethics through core values such as honesty, rigour, transparency, fairness, respect, and accountability in planning, conducting, and reporting research.
Applying these principles safeguards the rights and welfare of human and animal participants, improves the validity and reproducibility of results, and strengthens societal confidence in science and higher education.
Ethical Issues in Academic and Applied Research
Common ethical problems include lack of informed consent, privacy breaches, avoidable risk or harm, poor study design without ethics approval, and biased sampling that unfairly includes or excludes certain groups.
In applied and industry–linked projects, additional issues arise from undisclosed conflicts of interest, pressure to produce “positive” findings, and failure to follow national regulations or institutional guidelines for safety and compliance.
Plagiarism, Authorship, and Publication Ethics
Publication ethics policies typically prohibit plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate submission, data fabrication and falsification, image manipulation, and undisclosed competing interests, with many journals using similarity-check tools and editorial guidelines.
Authorship is generally reserved for contributors who meet recognised criteria for intellectual contribution, drafting or critical revision, final approval, and accountability, while gift, ghost, or coerced authorship are explicitly treated as misconduct.
Ethical Guidelines for Data Collection and Analysis
Ethical data collection requires scientifically sound design, ethics committee approval where applicable, voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality, and proportionate management of physical, psychological, and social risks.
During analysis and reporting, researchers must avoid “massaging” data, selective outcome reporting, or suppressing inconvenient results, instead using appropriate methods and presenting accurate, honest, and complete findings with suitable acknowledgements and citations.
Promoting Integrity and Responsibility in Research Practices
A culture of integrity is supported by clear institutional policies, mentoring, and regular training in responsible conduct of research, along with accessible procedures for raising concerns and protecting whistleblowers.
Journals and publishers contribute by adopting robust editorial and peer review practices, maintaining transparent authorship policies, using tools to detect integrity problems, and issuing corrections or retractions when the scholarly record needs to be updated.