Rules for upholding good scientific practice
The Rules for Upholding Good Scientific Practice at Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH have been in force since 1 January 2002. The amended rules have been in force since 17 November 2021.
Good Scientific Practice
Table of Contents
Rules for upholding good scientific practice
The head of each organizational unit is responsible for ensuring that those affected are familiar with the contents of the set of rules and the responsibilities derived from them.
Ombudsmen
The Board of Directors has appointed the following ombudsmen as required by Regulation 5:
Background
In the late 1990s, a serious case of scientific misconduct caused the German Research Foundation (DFG) to review existing mechanisms of scientific self-regulation and to give recommendations for safeguarding them. The Helmholtz Association took up the DFG "Self-Regulation in Science" commission’s suggestions for upholding good scientific practice and issued its own framework provisions for its member institutions based on these suggestions.
Assuring the Quality of Scientific Publications
Forschungszentrum Jülich sets very high quality standards for its scientific publications. For scientists, publications and conferences are the most important modes of presenting their research results to the science community and of developing them further through exchange with others.
The open access movement has given rise to many new service providers. Unfortunately, there are also a number of disreputable providers among them, who publish valueless online journals (“predatory journals”) or organize pseudo-scientific conferences (“predatory conferences”). “Predatory publishing” harms the reputation of the researchers who fall victim to it and their organization, as well as the reputation of science in general.
Forschungszentrum Jülich supports the open access movement.
Predatory publishers, however, are denied such support, since they do not satisfy the scientific standard and thereby ultimately harm science. Forschungszentrum Jülich rejects and opposes these dubious practices.
Each scientist has a responsibility to select their publication outlets with care and to subject them to a thorough examination. Fees for the publication of articles in predatory journals are not covered by Jülich’s publication fund. Furthermore, travel expenses incurred by the participation in predatory conferences are not reimbursed. Doctoral researchers’ attention will in future be drawn to the issue of predatory publishing at an early stage of their doctorate.
As part of its range of services, the Central Library of Forschungszentrum Jülich offers scientists advice on how well accepted a particular publisher is and on the audience reached by its journals. The library also maintains a blacklist of predatory publishers and predatory conferences. All Jülich researchers are called upon to share with the Central Library any experiences with dubious service providers, thus helping colleagues.
Statements:
Forschungszentrum Jülich supports the statement on scientific publications by three national Academies (Academie des sciences, Leopoldina, and Royal Society) as well as the current position on the quality assurance of scientific publications published by the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany in 2018.
Further information:
Central Library: Information on predatory publishing and contacts at Forschungszentrum Jülich
Last Modified: 15.12.2023