Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures

Abstract Ethics and ethical behaviour are the fundamental pillars of a civilised society. The focus on ethical behaviour is indispensable in certain fields such as medicine, finance, or law. In fact, ethics gets precedence with anything that would include, affect, transform, or influence upon indivi...

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Main Authors: Shivadas Sivasubramaniam, Dita Henek Dlabolová, Veronika Kralikova, Zeenath Reza Khan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2021-07-01
Series:International Journal for Educational Integrity
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-021-00078-6
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author Shivadas Sivasubramaniam
Dita Henek Dlabolová
Veronika Kralikova
Zeenath Reza Khan
author_facet Shivadas Sivasubramaniam
Dita Henek Dlabolová
Veronika Kralikova
Zeenath Reza Khan
author_sort Shivadas Sivasubramaniam
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Ethics and ethical behaviour are the fundamental pillars of a civilised society. The focus on ethical behaviour is indispensable in certain fields such as medicine, finance, or law. In fact, ethics gets precedence with anything that would include, affect, transform, or influence upon individuals, communities or any living creatures. Many institutions within Europe have set up their own committees to focus on or approve activities that have ethical impact. In contrast, lesser-developed countries (worldwide) are trying to set up these committees to govern their academia and research. As the first European consortium established to assist academic integrity, European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI), we felt the importance of guiding those institutions and communities that are trying to conduct research with ethical principles. We have established an ethical advisory working group within ENAI with the aim to promote ethics within curriculum, research and institutional policies. We are constantly researching available data on this subject and committed to help the academia to convey and conduct ethical behaviour. Upon preliminary review and discussion, the group found a disparity in understanding, practice and teaching approaches to ethical applications of research projects among peers. Therefore, this short paper preliminarily aims to critically review the available information on ethics, the history behind establishing ethical principles and its international guidelines to govern research. The paper is based on the workshop conducted in the 5th International conference Plagiarism across Europe and Beyond, in Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania in 2019. During the workshop, we have detailed a) basic needs of an ethical committee within an institution; b) a typical ethical approval process (with examples from three different universities); and c) the ways to obtain informed consent with some examples. These are summarised in this paper with some example comparisons of ethical approval processes from different universities. We believe this paper will provide guidelines on preparing and training both researchers and research students in appropriately upholding ethical practices through ethical approval processes.
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spelling doaj.art-3c23842dedcf4d25b1b124aff5472bc72022-12-21T22:36:05ZengBMCInternational Journal for Educational Integrity1833-25952021-07-0117111810.1007/s40979-021-00078-6Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application proceduresShivadas Sivasubramaniam0Dita Henek Dlabolová1Veronika Kralikova2Zeenath Reza Khan3School of Human Sciences, University of DerbyDepartment of Informatics, Mendel University in BrnoCentre for Academic Integrity in the UAE, Faculty of Engineering & Information Sciences, University of Wollongong in DubaiCentre for Academic Integrity in the UAE, Faculty of Engineering & Information Sciences, University of Wollongong in DubaiAbstract Ethics and ethical behaviour are the fundamental pillars of a civilised society. The focus on ethical behaviour is indispensable in certain fields such as medicine, finance, or law. In fact, ethics gets precedence with anything that would include, affect, transform, or influence upon individuals, communities or any living creatures. Many institutions within Europe have set up their own committees to focus on or approve activities that have ethical impact. In contrast, lesser-developed countries (worldwide) are trying to set up these committees to govern their academia and research. As the first European consortium established to assist academic integrity, European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI), we felt the importance of guiding those institutions and communities that are trying to conduct research with ethical principles. We have established an ethical advisory working group within ENAI with the aim to promote ethics within curriculum, research and institutional policies. We are constantly researching available data on this subject and committed to help the academia to convey and conduct ethical behaviour. Upon preliminary review and discussion, the group found a disparity in understanding, practice and teaching approaches to ethical applications of research projects among peers. Therefore, this short paper preliminarily aims to critically review the available information on ethics, the history behind establishing ethical principles and its international guidelines to govern research. The paper is based on the workshop conducted in the 5th International conference Plagiarism across Europe and Beyond, in Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania in 2019. During the workshop, we have detailed a) basic needs of an ethical committee within an institution; b) a typical ethical approval process (with examples from three different universities); and c) the ways to obtain informed consent with some examples. These are summarised in this paper with some example comparisons of ethical approval processes from different universities. We believe this paper will provide guidelines on preparing and training both researchers and research students in appropriately upholding ethical practices through ethical approval processes.https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-021-00078-6Higher educationEthical codesEthics committeePost-secondary educationAcademiaEthics
spellingShingle Shivadas Sivasubramaniam
Dita Henek Dlabolová
Veronika Kralikova
Zeenath Reza Khan
Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures
International Journal for Educational Integrity
Higher education
Ethical codes
Ethics committee
Post-secondary education
Academia
Ethics
title Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures
title_full Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures
title_fullStr Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures
title_full_unstemmed Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures
title_short Assisting you to advance with ethics in research: an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures
title_sort assisting you to advance with ethics in research an introduction to ethical governance and application procedures
topic Higher education
Ethical codes
Ethics committee
Post-secondary education
Academia
Ethics
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-021-00078-6
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AT veronikakralikova assistingyoutoadvancewithethicsinresearchanintroductiontoethicalgovernanceandapplicationprocedures
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