University of Manitoba - University Governance - GOVERNING DOCUMENTS: RESEARCH

GOVERNING DOCUMENTS: RESEARCH

POLICY:	GUIDELINES ON RESPONSIBILITIES FOR RESEARCH ETHICS
Effective Date:	April 25, 1991
Revised Date:
Review Date:
Approving Body:	Board of Governors
Authority:
Implementation:
Contact:	Vice-President (Academic) and Provost
Applies to:	All

Responsibilities of Faculty Members

The University of Manitoba expects that its staff and students will carry out research and scholarly work maintaining the highest ethical and scientific standards of academic integrity. Academic dishonesty of any sort will not be condoned and may be cause for disciplinary action.

As the constituency with primary responsibility for the execution and reporting of research and other scholarly work, faculty members have a unique role in maintaining high ethical standards of performance. The following guidelines are intended to provide direction in the establishment of practices for the maintenance of the integrity and quality of research.

Supervision

Faculty members should carefully supervise all research staff including postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, research associates, technical and other support staff for whom they have responsibility. This is especially important in the case of personnel who have just commenced their training.
The design of experiments, processing of acquired data, recording of data and other results, interpretation of results and advice on the storage of data and results must be included in this supervision. A regular discussion between the faculty member and his or her staff about these various aspects of the research is recommended and should ensure a familiarity of the faculty member with all aspects of the research.
Authenticity of Data

A faculty member listed as the principal investigator or co-investigator should be able to verify the authenticity of all data, or other factual information, generated in his or her research, while ensuring the protection of confidentiality in those instances involving personally-sensitive information tied to individual subjects. Each faculty member shall set guidelines for how data will be recorded in his or her research group and require that the primary copy of that data remain in the University at all times. For example, original results should, where practical, be recorded in bound notebooks with numbered pages. Printout from machines should be affixed to the notebook or referenced in the notebook and filed for future use. Long term storage of the notebooks and associated material is the responsibility of the faculty member. Such material should not be destroyed while there is reasonable probability of questions from other investigators, colleagues or readers of resulting publications requiring access to the primary data.
Reporting Academic Dishonesty

Faculty members should question any instance of academic fraud, injustice or dishonesty perceived to have been perpetrated by a member of the university community. The faculty member shall act in accordance with procedures set out elsewhere in University policies relating to fraud in research.
Publication Practices

Faculty members should ensure that each publication is a report of new and significant work. The submission of multiple similar abstracts or manuscripts varying only minimally in content has the effect of fragmenting the study, making it difficult for reviewers and readers to follow experimental procedures and gain a true understanding of the thesis. This practice, when it only serves to generate additional publications, is improper.
Authorship

Faculty members should ensure that any person who has substantially contributed academically to the study being reported in a publication either in the conception or design, execution of the experimental work, interpretation of data or drafting the article is included as an author or is given other appropriate acknowledgement. Any one accepting authorship accepts responsibility for the validity of the whole manuscript. It is suggested that each department define a set of criteria for authorship and that this be attached to the departmental supplementary regulations for graduate studies.
With regard to the special situation of publications arising from multi-investigator teams, the following general guidelines have been adapted from those of Stanford University (1989):
a) The principal investigators from each laboratory listed on the publication must ensure the overall validity of the publication.
b) All authors share the responsibility for the publication and should have the opportunity to review all procedures and data used in preparing the publication.
c) Each author should know a paper is being prepared, should have access to the manuscript prior to its submission for publication and should agree to being listed as a co-author.
d) Early in the project, each research group should define the procedures for maintaining data.
Personal Representation
When preparing a Curriculum Vitae, a faculty member must present all relevant professional information comprehensively, clearly and accurately. For example, all degrees and special awards must be accurately described and include the date and the name of the awarding institution. The order of authorship on publications should not be modified from what appeared in the original publication.

Responsibilities of Academic Administrators

Administrators should endeavour to foster a climate for ethical practices in scholarly work by encouraging the discussion of research ethics, by encouraging openness in the discussion of ongoing research, by making it clear that quality in publications is important and by assuring that assignments of responsibility for supervision of students and other researchers are appropriate. Particular attention should be given to the adequate supervision of large research teams.

University administrators and their delegates (as defined in The University of Manitoba By-laws) are expected to deal expeditiously and fairly with any known instances or allegations of academic fraud following approved procedures. In so doing every consideration should be given to achieving a balance between "protecting the integrity of the research effort and protecting the rights of individuals" (Yale University 1982). Administrators should be able to produce written evidence of steps taken to deal with such situations.

All allegations of fraud shall be treated in strict confidence while under investigation.

Addendum

In approving this document at its meeting of April 3, 1991, Senate observed that individual departments may choose to define guidelines for the responsibilities of faculty members which are specific to their discipline. Such additional guidelines should be approved by the University Research Committee of Senate.