Expanding Research Integrity: A Cultural-Practice Perspective

Science and Engineering Ethics, vol. 27, pp. 10

Abstract

Research integrity (RI) is usually discussed in terms of responsibilities that individual researchers bear towards the scientific work they conduct, as well as responsibilities that institutions have to enable those individual researchers to do so. In addition to these two bearers of responsibility, a third category often surfaces, which is variably referred to as culture and practice. These notions merit further development beyond a residual category that is to contain everything that is not covered by attributions to individuals and institutions. This paper discusses how thinking in RI can take benefit from more specific ideas on practice and culture. We start by articulating elements of practice and culture, and explore how values central to RI are related to these elements. These insights help identify additional points of intervention for fostering responsible conduct. This helps to build "cultures and practices of research integrity", as it makes clear that specific times and places are connected to specific practices and cultures and should have a place in the debate on Research Integrity. With this conceptual framework, practitioners as well as theorists can avoid using the notions as residual categories that de facto amount to vague, additional burdens of responsibility for the individual.

Authors 4

1. Govert Valkenburg corresponding Aachen Centre for Science and Technology Studies Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences

   Leiden University · Norwegian University of Science and Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands. govert.valkenburg@ntnu.no

   Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, Faculty of Humanities, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. govert.valkenburg@ntnu.no

   Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

2. Guus Dix

   University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS), University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, the Netherlands

3. Joeri K. Tijdink

   Amsterdam University Medical Centers · Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam · Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Ethics, Law and Humanities, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Location VUmc, Amsterdam, Netherlands

   Department of Philosophy, VU University, Amsterdam, Netherlands

4. Sarah de Rijcke Aachen Centre for Science and Technology Studies Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands