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Responsible Conduct of Research

This page lists a number of resources related to responsible conduct in research.   You are encouraged to take the training, however this page is meant as a catalog of the resources available to you for the following topics:

 

Conflicts of Interest

It can be difficult for researchers to avoid conflicts of interest. There are many types of them, including personal, professional, and financial conflicts.   A conflict of interest isn’t bad – it just has to be disclosed and addressed properly.

Financial Conflicts of Interest - https://vpr.harvard.edu/pages/financial-conflict-interest-policyexternal link

Conflicts of Commitment – https://vpr.harvard.edu/pages/outside-activities-holders-academic-appointmentsexternal link

Outside Activities and Interests Reporting - https://vpr.harvard.edu/OAIRexternal link

Additional Resources:

 

Export Controls

The U.S. Government controls exports of sensitive equipment, software and technology as a means to promote our national security interests and foreign policy objectives.  Any item that is sent from the US to a foreign destination or a foreign national is an export.

Policies and Procedures - https://vpr.harvard.edu/pages/export-controls-policies-and-proceduresexternal link

Contacts - https://research.fas.harvard.edu/area-expertise/export-controlsexternal link

  • Foreign travel - https://vpr.harvard.edu/pages/foreign-travel-issuesexternal link
  • Funds with a publication restriction. PIs need to pay close attention, especially with Industry agreements
  • A controlled item gets shipped abroad. 
  • Controlled items may include physical items, information (written or electronic), software, components, parts, accessories or technical data - specifically designed, developed, configured, adapted, or modified for a military application

 

Collaborative Research

Research is now a global phenomenon in which diverse disciplinary standards, societal values, organizational models, and governmental regulations may affect collaborative projects.  One of the most important steps in establishing a collaboration is determining who is accountable for the various components of the project and creating a leadership plan that describes processes for making important decisions.

International Research Planning Guide - https://vpr.harvard.edu/international-research-project-planning-guideexternal link

Material Transfer Agreements - http://otd.harvard.edu/faculty-inventors/resources/material-transfer-agreements/external link

 

Data Management

Why?

  • Helps you reuse your own data
  • Facilitates reliable verification of results by others
  • Permits new research built on existing data
  • Fulfills data management plans required by federal funding agencies and foundations
  • Lets you make public assets available to the public
  • Allows you to publish datasets along with scholarly article, as now required by many leading journals
  • Promotes use and citation of your work

Resources:

Tools:

Agency Specific:

 

Lab Safety

Harvard’s office of Environmental Health & Safety promotes safe work practices in laboratories that cross multiple regulatory frameworks, departments and functional areas.

 

Research Misconduct

Research misconduct and other behaviors that can compromise research integrity.

https://research.fas.harvard.edu/research-integrityexternal link

https://vpr.harvard.edu/pages/research-integrityexternal link

Research misconduct = any one of these three… while proposing, performing, reviewing, or reporting research.

  1. Fabrication = making up data and recording them
  2. Falsification = manipulating materials/processes or changing/omitting data, such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record
  3. Plagiarism = appropriating ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit

It is NOT honest error or differences of scientific opinion. 

Simulation of various points of view or Research Misconduct - https://ori.hhs.gov/thelabexternal link

Other Resources:

 

Intellectual Property

Should you invent something that can be applied to commercial use or that results in licensing, you have certain rights per the Harvard IP Policy- http://otd.harvard.edu/faculty-inventors/resources/policies-and-procedures/statement-of-policy-in-regard-to-intellectual-property/external link

Report of Innovation - Assess the patentability of your work (BEFORE PUBLIC DISCLOSURE) http://otd.harvard.edu/faculty-inventors/resources/report-of-innovation-roiexternal link

Material Transfer Agreement - Receiving/Sharing Materials http://otd.harvard.edu/faculty-inventors/resources/material-transfer-agreementsexternal link

 

Authorship

The general consensus is that authorship should be based on intellectual contribution and that hourly wages, academic credit, commissions, or other forms of compensation are irrelevant in assessing one's eligibility for authorship.  A number of models and proposed standards for authorship have been put forward, including from academic or research institutions, journals and their editors, and professional societies. 

Attribution Workshop -  https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/attribution_workshopexternal link

Open Access - Harvard maintains an open-access repository for faculty publications (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard or DASH) https://dash.harvard.edu/external link.   U.S. agencies, including NSF and NASA, seek to have researchers make their published work openly available to the public.

Other resources:

Peer Review

The manuscript is considered to be a privileged communication to the reviewers. The reviewer must honor confidentiality of the information, report any conflict of interest to the journal before the review begins, and behave professionally.

Mentoring

While it may at one point have been synonymous with an academic advisor, the role of a modern day mentor has expanded and often includes supervisor, collaborator, professional development coach, advocate, and friend.  Perhaps most importantly, a mentor is someone who takes a sincere interest in the future growth and development of a trainee.

 

Acknowledgements - https://about.citiprogram.org/en/series/responsible-conduct-of-research-...