Professional Ethics and Responsible Research Conduct

The University’s commitment

The University of Minnesota is dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth for the benefit of all people (from the University of Minnesota Mission Statement). To safeguard the values of good scholarship and professional conduct, the University of Minnesota has taken steps to inform and educate its faculty, staff and students about these issues. Expectations for members of the University community are spelled out in the Board of Regents Code of Conduct, which holds members to the highest ethical standards of professional conduct and integrity. The complementary responsibilities of faculty and graduate students in fostering high academic standards, intellectual honesty, and mutual respect in graduate training are spelled out in Mutual Responsibilities in Graduate Education at the University of Minnesota.

The University has also adopted a comprehensive educational program to provide members of the University community with the knowledge and resources they will need to act as responsible researchers and scholars. As part of this educational initiative, each graduate program is required to provide its students—through courses, informal seminars, and individual mentoring—opportunities to learn about ethical issues from a disciplinary perspective and to explore these openly.

The Code of Conduct, Mutual Responsibilities document, and other resources noted in this brochure are accessible on the Web at: http://www.research.umn.edu/ethics/

Do you know?

• if you can exclude data in reporting research results?
• how to decide who should be named as author on a paper? the order of authors?
• how an author credits the contributions of others in a manuscript?
• if it is ever permissible to deceive research subjects?
• whose obligation it is to report research misconduct?
• who owns the results of research?
• how to justify the numbers of animals requested for a study?

Knowing the answers to these and other questions is essential in conducting research and scholarship responsibly, and in establishing the foundation of trust on which research and scholarship rest.

Preserving trust

Science and scholarship depend on widely held values of integrity and honesty among those who advance knowledge in their respective fields. Without these values, the research enterprise becomes suspect, and its results are subject to mistrust. In a very real way, trust is based on a shared expectation of the respect for truth.

Pressure to publish, financial gain from commercializing research discoveries, and technological advances in communication and investigation, among other factors, threaten to compromise ethical conduct in research and scholarship. The distinction between what is appropriate conduct and what is not has, in some cases, become increasingly blurred, and answers to ethical questions are not always clear-cut.

What do graduate students need to learn about ethics?

• the history and values relating to research and scholarship
• social responsibility; reporting misconduct
• authorship
• plagiarism
• peer review
• intellectual property
• conflict of interest
• research data management
• fiscal responsibility
• environmental health and safety
• animal subjects
• human subjects

Ideally, graduate students in all disciplines will be exposed to management of integrity in all of these areas, even though some topics may not be directly related to their chosen field of study. As responsible researchers, scholars and professionals, all students should have an understanding of these issues, even though students in different fields may find that these issues affect them differently.

Other Resources

Many resources, in addition to the educational activities of graduate programs, are available to students. These include:

• your academic adviser
• annual, University-wide symposia and workshops
• University of Minnesota website on ethics in research and professional conduct
• codes of professional societies and associations

University offices and organizations can answer questions and identify other sources of information. These include:

• Center for Bioethics
• Department of Environmental Health and Safety
• Research Subjects’ Protection Programs
• Institutional Review Board
• Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
• Research Animal Resources

These offices and organizations can be easily contacted from the website http://www.research.umn.edu/ethics/

The University of Minnesota welcomes you as a new graduate student. Your years here should provide great intellectual stimulation and reward. The institutional initiatives described in this brochure are designed to help you acquire the knowledge and skills you will need to successfully navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.

“The inquiry of truth, …the knowledge of truth, …and the belief of truth, …is the sovereign good of human nature.”
— Francis Bacon

For More Information

If you have additional questions about opportunities for learning about professional ethics and responsible research conduct, contact your graduate program or the Dean of the Graduate School.

The University of Minnesota is an Equal Opportunity educator and employer.

© 2000 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota. This publication is available in alternate formats upon request via email from rschtrng@umn.edu.