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International - Activity
German Funding Agency Issues Research Misconduct Rule
Volume 10, No. 4, September 2002
Five years after a major misconduct scandal,
the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany's main funding
body, issued new binding standards of ethical research last summer.
According to Science, the rules follow international norms in
defining scientific misconduct as "deliberate or grossly
negligent falsification or fabrication of data." The new
definition also includes plagiarism, manipulation of graphs and
figures, selective use of data without making it explicit, use
of false information in grant and job applications, destruction
of primary data, and sabotage of others' work. Possible sanctions
include the loss of research contracts and the revocation of academic
titles.
To ease the publish-or-perish pressures, the
new code also indicates that promotion decisions should be based
on quality and originality, rather than on publication volume.
The misconduct rules were developed by a special DFG commission
in consultation with international fraud experts, and most of
Germany's research institutions have adopted the guidelines.
Under the new rules, institutions must appoint
an independent ombudsperson to initiate probes of misconduct allegations
while protecting whistleblowers. The new rules also state that
primary research data must be stored for 10 years wherever possible.
Failure to archive research records, or their deliberate destruction,
could be judged as gross negligence and be punishable.
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