The third level of the DFG´s Guidelines for Good Research – dynamic online portal

The English version of this web portal on research integrity will follow in 2021.

Information on the Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice

The aim of the Code is to enable the intended audience – researchers and heads of universities and non-university research institutions – to align their internal structures, processes and actions with the guidelines for good research practice. This is intended to create a deeply rooted culture of research integrity at higher education institutions in Germany, focusing less on breaches of good scientific practice and more on the professional ethics of researchers.

The Code is structured in line with a multidimensional approach known as the “three-level model”. The guidelines on the first level have a high degree of abstraction. They are followed on the second level by explanations that still have a relatively high level of abstraction.

This third level of the Code has been designed as a dynamic online portal and contains subject-specific information, case studies and FAQs, which serve to illustrate the content of the guidelines.

The Code is also divided into the five sections I. Foreword, II. Preamble, III. Standards of Good Scientific Practice, IV. Non-compliance with Good Scientific Practice, V. Implementation of the Guidelines. The Standards of Good Scientific Practice under III. are divided into general principles (Guidelines 1 to 6) while Guidelines 7 to 17 describe the key steps involved in good scientific work throughout the research process. The Code ends with procedures to follow in the event of non-compliance with good scientific practice (Guidelines 18 to 19), which set out the rights and obligations of those who report such a case and those affected by allegations.