The Munster Statement on the Principles of Research Ethics and Research Integrity

"<p>INGENIUM is an alliance of ten institutions of higher education from ten European countries. This European University seeks to enable each member of the network to offer high-quality study and qualification programmes with digital components that are shared within the INGENIUM Alliance.</p> <p>In Higher Education Institutions there is a growing emphasis on promoting good research practices in all aspects of research1,2, including everything from fundamental research to applied research to commercialisation. Research ethics (RE) and research integrity (RI) underpin research activity and excellence and are considered a critical component of the basis for researchers to trust each other as well as the research record3, and reinforce the public's trust to science and scientific outcomes4. However, with the multitude of high-level guidelines in existence, developing a statement to enable a consistent approach to RE and RI across INGENIUM is essential.</p> <p>With RE and RI relevant to research across all disciplines, it is crucial that a statement on their good practice is based on experience across multiple disciplines. To address this need, the INGENIUM alliance has supported the creation of MARIE – Multidisciplinary Approach to Research Integrity and Ethics – who led the development of The Munster Statement. The purpose of the statement is to support researchers across INGENIUM, through mandating a steadfast commitment to clear and consistent RE and RI principles across all levels in their collaborations. This commitment should, as far as possible, avoid incidences of research misconduct and unacceptable research practices occurring.</p> <p>MARIE is a project funded by INGENIUM Research Groups 2024, with members’ expertise ranging across numerous fields, including mathematics, engineering, informatics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, healthcare, bioethics, applied ethics, and sociology. Utilising the MARIE members’ collectively multidisciplinary knowledge of RE and RI implementation to further embed good research practices ensures that the outputs from MARIE will be beneficial across multiple disciplines in the INGENIUM alliance, thus solidifying INGENIUM's role at the forefront of RE and RI initiatives. By working collaboratively and collectively across the INGENIUM alliance on RE and RI, and following input from local stakeholders, we, the members of the MARIE project, developed The Munster Statement.</p> <p>The Munster Statement outlines the principles of RE and RI, along with the closely related terms research misconduct and unacceptable research practices, aligned across INGENIUM, and should be read in conjunction with local and national research-related policy and procedures.</p> <p>The Munster Statement is supported by the INGENIUM Research School.</p>"