Promoting Research Integrity in a Global Environment

Globalisation has become a rewarding but challenging fact of life for scientific and scholarly researchers. Intellectually, they work with shared understandings of their areas of research and research methods. Professionally, responsibility and best practices are subject to many different rules and standards that vary across disciplines, countries, and cultures. They know how to measure and study the objects of their research but are often less sure of what constitutes the responsible practice of research or research integrity.

The World Conferences on Research Integrity provide a forum for an international group of researchers, research administrators from funding agencies and similar bodies, research organisations performing research, universities and policy makers to discuss and make recommendations on ways to improve, harmonise, publicise, and make operationally effective international policies for the responsible conduct of research. The second such conference, held in Singapore in July 2010, focused on challenges and responses. Where is integrity in research today most significantly challenged and what is being done to address these challenges? This volume brings together a selection of presentations and key guidelines and statements emerging from the Conference.