News
Here you will find the latest news on the topic of good scientific practice.
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The "Gollum effect" describes how researchers often withhold data and findings, thereby harming science.
www.tagesschau.de
Anja Karlshaus published practice-oriented work on leadership topics, but her dissertation, completed in 2005, was rejected by Stefan Weber for at least 73 violations of good scientific practice.
www.berliner-zeitung.de
In this interactive online workshop, you will learn which of these are suitable for literature research in a scientific context and receive tips on how you can make your research more efficient and intelligent with AI using practical examples.
www.khys.deThis webinar on May 23 will explore how Open Science is becoming the new norm and what that means for the people driving it forward.
www.indico.kit.edu
On May 26, 2025 at 17:00, CHANGER Café #3 will discuss how digital privacy agents can help to make consent for data use in biomedical research more efficient and individualized. The aim is to provide insights into the legal and ethical challenges.
www.changer-project.eu
A total of 14 Berlin universities have founded a joint ombudsman's office for good academic practice. The independent, cross-university office complements existing structures at the universities.
www.nachrichten.idw-online.de
The Network of Ethics Committees in the Social Sciences (neks), in which the GWP office is also active, is an association of individuals and institutions dedicated to research ethics consulting and assessment of social science research. The website neks.info is now online and accessible to external users. An English version will follow shortly.
neks.info
In October 2025, the Certificate of Advanced Studies Research Data Management (CAS FDM), the certificate course on research data management of the state initiative bwFDM, will start. The CAS FDM is a part-time, certified continuing education program at the Academy for Scientific Continuing Education at the University of Konstanz.
www.forschungsdaten.info
Love Data Week (LDW) is an international week of action around the topics of research data and research data management. Under the motto "Whose Data Is It, Anyway?", Love Data 2025 will be celebrated worldwide from February 10 - 14 with numerous events on a wide variety of topics. The information portal bundles the offers of German institutions.
www.forschungsdaten.info
The DFG has published a new handout that offers best practices for the development, use and provision of research software. It supports researchers and institutions in ensuring quality, licensing and sustainability.
www.forschungsdaten.info
Dr. Helena Jambor will receive this year's Early Career Einstein Award for her project "PixelQuality - Best practices for publishing images". The prize, endowed with 100,000 euros, will be presented to the two scientists in March 2025.
www.TU-Dresden.de
The suspicion of a scientific scandal involving a US neuroscientist who may have manipulated research results has shaken neurology worldwide. The influential researcher has published numerous studies on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. This raises the question: How immune is science?
www.idw.de
The libraries from the Alliance of Leading Technical Universities in Germany (TU9) are continuing their cooperation in the winter semester 2024 to teach information literacy and are once again opening selected online seminars on research-related topics for interested students and researchers from the partner institutions.
www.bibliothek.kit.de
The "Research Data Scarytales" use short stories to highlight the possible consequences of errors in data management. The scenarios range from minor individual problems to serious social consequences and vividly illustrate the consequences of poor data quality.
www.FDM-Thüringen.deIn 2024, the DFG is focusing on increased cooperation in security research in order to tackle global challenges such as digitalization and sustainability. The focus is particularly on ethical issues and innovative solutions through interdisciplinary approaches. Find out more in the DFG's latest publication.
www.dfg.deIn both cases, the misconduct of researchers was established following a thorough investigation by the DFG. The measures taken include exclusion from funding and corrections to the publications in question. The DFG emphasizes the importance of scientific integrity and strict adherence to the rules of good scientific practice.
www.dfg.deFor 25 years, the DFG's central point of contact has been providing independent advice to researchers on issues relating to good scientific practice and scientific integrity. Now the "Ombudsman for Science" has been transformed into the registered association "Ombudsman Board for Research Integrity". The new legal form and funding basis secure the long-term work of the Ombudsman Board.
www.dfg.de
AI is becoming increasingly important as a tool in science. On the one hand, the combination of language models and knowledge graphs enables more precise answers. On the other hand, the answers must always be checked for plausibility. The responsibility for this lies with the researchers who use AI tools.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
ALLEA announces that the German translation of the new edition of the Code of Good Scientific Practice 2023 is now available. This version places particular emphasis on ethical principles, transparency and responsibility and serves as a binding guideline to ensure scientific integrity in the European research community.
zur PDF
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has revised its "Guidelines for Ethical Principles". The KIT Senate adopted a version updated by the Ethics Committee, which can be found on the KIT Ethics Committee website.
www.intranet.kit.edu
Ruhr-Universität Bochum announces the publication of the ethics handouts on the topic of "Digital Technologies at Universities". This publication offers valuable guidance for the ethically responsible use of digital technologies in teaching and research at universities and supports teachers and researchers in reflecting on and designing digital educational processes.
www.news.rub.de
At the Paul Scherrer Institute, a head is supposed to demand to be listed as a co-author on all publications - and this solely because of his position. This violates scientific integrity. The conflict represents a larger problem.
www.nzz.ch
Today, the world is facing centuries of revolutionary and groundbreaking discoveries. Advances such as the invention of the microscope or the discovery of DNA structure laid the foundations for numerous scientific advances.
www.wissenschaft.deWritten reprimand and two-year exclusion from the right to submit applications due to plagiarism. Main committee decides on measures against academics
www.dfg.de
Pooling and optimally utilizing resources, interdisciplinary collaboration, improving data quality and security and providing specialized services for everyone: All this is provided by the Medical Research Services at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, MRS.RUB for short.
www.news.rub.de
University adopts statutes in accordance with the requirements of the German Research Foundation
www.thws.de
The EU member states have adopted stricter rules for artificial intelligence (AI) in the European Union. VDI expert Dieter Westerkamp emphasizes the importance of the final decision and responsibility resting with humans.
www.vdi.deProf. Dr. Jörg Schmalian has held the office of DFG Liaison Lecturer at KIT since May 8, 2024. The complete list of all DFG liaison lecturers can be found under the link here.
Vertrauensdozent*innen der DFG
Not sanctionable, but nevertheless to be corrected and - if possible - avoided: so-called "honest mistakes" and "questionable research practices".
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
What legal consequences do researchers face for scientific misconduct? Professor Klaus Ferdinand Gärditz provides an overview.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
ZB MED search portal LIVIVO makes retracted publications clearly recognizable.
www.zbmed.deDFG Joint Committee decides to take action against a scientist.
www.dfg.de
According to a Swedish study, researchers tend to view their scientific practice uncritically. Mistakes are made by others.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
The President of Kiel University is alleged to have manipulated data in a publication on cancer research. As a result, she resigned.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
In order to protect the heterogeneous communities of wild bees even better in the future, the JKI, together with experts in wild bee research, has developed scientifically sound guidelines for the collection of wild bee data.
www.julius-kuehn.de
Several doctoral theses at the Institute of Theoretical Physics are being examined. The same doctoral supervisor is said to have been involved in all cases.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
Yes in the application, no in the report: this is how the German Research Foundation envisages dealing with artificial intelligence in the future.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
This year, the University of Excellence Hamburg is once again supporting interdisciplinary teaching teams that are jointly developing an innovative teaching format.
www.uni-hamburg.de
The Max Delbrück Center has modernized its rules of good scientific practice. With the new guideline, the Center commits its scientists to integrity and honesty in research, to good leadership and training and to the fair treatment of intellectual property.
www.mdc-berlin.deMain committee decides on measures against two scientists.
www.dfg.de
Science is committed to the truth. However, researchers occasionally misrepresent data, disregard authorship, steal ideas or plagiarize. UZH combats potential misconduct with the Integrity Ordinance.
www.news.uzh.ch
One of the many variants of plagiarism is "self-plagiarism". However, there are hardly any guidelines for reusing one's own work.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
German universities are wondering how they should deal with AI-based writing software. An expert report provides some initial answers.
www.forschung-und-lehre.de
There is a lack of implementation of good scientific practice in Germany.
www.fr.de