France

Based on the document Report:E25203e2-0465-4272-9f37-1f299810864b which was published on 2022-11-28T13:12:58 on the website "Embassy of Good Science" under the URL https://embassy.science/wiki/Report:E25203e2-0465-4272-9f37-1f299810864b, the research ifrastructure of {{{Display_Title}}} is described as follows: In 2016, there were 431,000 full-time researchers in France (1). France has three types of higher education institutions: Universities, Grandes écoles, and specialized schools (2). There are 27 COMUEs – public institutions that bring together and coordinate higher education and research institutions in the same academic or inter-academic area (3).

Apart from that, France has 34 public institutions of scientific and technological character, public industrial and commercial establishments, foundations and special institutes in France (4) as well as 4 National Research Alliances, thematic groupings of research organizations and higher education institutions (5).

Higher education institutions that provide university degrees, including a doctorate (6), are listed below in the table.

Facts & Figures

France

Where

• France

Research infrastructure

In 2016, there were 431,000 full-time researchers in France (1). France has three types of higher education institutions: Universities, Grandes écoles, and specialized schools (2). There are 27 COMUEs – public institutions that bring together and coordinate higher education and research institutions in the same academic or inter-academic area (3).

Apart from that, France has 34 public institutions of scientific and technological character, public industrial and commercial establishments, foundations and special institutes in France (4) as well as 4 National Research Alliances, thematic groupings of research organizations and higher education institutions (5).

Higher education institutions that provide university degrees, including a doctorate (6), are listed below in the table.

Research funding

In 2018, the gross expenditures on research and development were €51.8 billion, which comprises 2.2% of the country’s GDP (7). Most funding was spent in the business sector (65.41%), higher education (20.5%), government (12.5%) and private non-profit organisations (1.59%) (7).

France had 7 488 grants receiving €6.9 billion funding from H2020 (8). It also had 878 ERC signed grants receiving €1.46 billion from H2020 (8).

Research strategy

In 2013, France launched the research strategy France Europe 2020 A Strategic Agenda for Research, Technology Transfer and Innovation. The scope of the Strategy is to enable all areas of research in France better tackling on the scientific, technological, economic and societal challenges. It proposed nine lines of actions to achieve this scope: mobilise the research community around major societal challenges, reforge the research coordination and guidance system in France, promote technological research, develop digital training and infrastructures, foster innovation and technology transfer, ensure uptake on the scientific culture, develop programming suited to the major priorities in research and innovation, build consistency between sites and heighten the presence of French research in Europe and abroad (9,10).  

Research governance, compliance and integrity

National charter for research integrity was introduces in 2015. It is aligned with European Charter for Researchers, Singapore Statement on Research Integrity and European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. The Charter addresses compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements, reliability of research work, communication, responsibility in collective work, impartiality and independence in assessment and expertise, collaborative work and plurality of activities, and training. By the end of April 2019, more than 45 research institutions signed the Charter agreeing to abide by seven principles in the field of professional ethics (11).

In 2017, the French Office for Research Integrity (OFIS) was established as a department of High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education. Its purpose is threefold:

-       Monitoring, particularly in the context of the new forms that research is taking (participatory science, big data, data reuse, open science);

-       Observation of compliance with the code of ethics for research professions by the institutions that have adopted it since 2015;

-       Coordination of national scientific communities on issues of scientific integrity, particularly through the network of advisers in the establishments that have signed the charter.

The OFIS benefits from the conditions to guarantee its independence to support, coordinate and facilitate the action of higher education and research establishments which have signed the charter (12).

It is the national advisory body on research integrity in France (11). The French Advisory Board for Research Integrity guides and oversees the work of the OFIS (13). The National Consultative Ethics Committee for Health and Life Sciences (CCNE) has an advisory role in dealing with ethical concerns in the community (14). Further, the National Committee for Ethics in Animal Research brought up a National charter on the ethics of animal experimentation. There are 39 Ethics Committees in France. These Committees of Protection of Persons (CPP) are divided up into 7 regions all over the country (14).

Research institutions, such as universities, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), are obliged to prevent and handle misconduct cases. Generally, these institutions have investigatory and decision-making authority (11).

The French legal system provides protection for whistle-blowers. “Sapin II” law from 2016 requires that companies establish internal whistleblowing hotlines which would allow employees to report violations of the corporate code of conduct. Disclosure of confidential information about whistle-blowers or alleged violators may be punishable by two years of incarceration or a fine of €300,000 (15). This can be applied in private companies with at least 50 employees (16).

Bodies for RE+RI	ExpandScope
The French Office for Scientific Integrity (OFIS)	Provides support to higher education and research institutions, observes implementation of the National charter, contributes to the promotion of research integrity at the national and international level.
Ethics Committees (Committees for the Protection of Persons)	Have responsibility for decisions concerning interventional studies, standard of care studies, medical and other health products and further research areas.
The National Consultative Ethics Committee for Health and Life Sciences (CCNE)	Has an advisory role in dealing with ethical concerns in the community. All issues of medically assisted procreation and experiments on humans have to be addressed by the CCNE.
The National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)	Conducts research, transfers research results, trains through research and contributes to scientific policy.
The National Commission on Animal Experimentation (CNEA)	Promotes good practices in breeding, care and handling of laboratory animals.
Parliamentary Office for evaluation of scientific and technological options (OPECST)	Informs Parliament of scientific and technological options in order to make its decisions clear. It collects information, launches study programmes and carries out assessments.
The High Council on Biotechnology - Scientific Committee and Economic, Ethical and Social Committee	Advises the French government on issues relating to GMOs and other types of biotechnology.
The Parliamentary Office for Scientific and Technological Assessment	Collects information, launches study programmes and carries out assessments in order to inform Parliament of the consequences of the choice of scientific and technological options.
Council of Deontology - French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research	Takes part in a network of national bodies competent in matters of deontology, ethics and integrity.

Laws and regulations

A number of laws regarding RE and RI are officially instated in France.

Law	ExpandScope
New Jardé Decree Applying from 17 November 2016	Specifies the methods of conducting research involving humans.
Order on the ethical evaluation and authorization of projects involving the use of animals in procedures	Specifies the methods of conducting research involving animals.
Rural and Maritime Fishing Code, Articles R214-117 to R214-127	Supports research, innovation and development, especially the bio-based products and plant chemistry sectors. It aims to develop added value in agricultural and food sectors, strengthen France's export capacity, contribute to the protection of the public health and health of farmers and employees in the agricultural sector, etc.
Code of the Environment	Provides rules concerning the preservation of natural resources, monitoring of hazardous activities,  environmental assessment and public information on project.
Order of March 1, 2018 relating to the College of Ethics within the Ministry of Higher Education and Research	Gives opinion on the general issues relating to the application of the obligations and ethical principles in the services and establishments within the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. It recommends measures for enforcing ethical obligations and preventing or stopping a conflict of interest situation.

Measures to promote good scientific practices and open science

RI training

French Office for Research Integrity (OFIS) offers training to integrity officers (17). Documents for RI training used in France are:

-European Code of Conduct

-National Charter for Research Integrity

-Signature of Scientific Publications: Good Practices (Inserm)

-Ethics and Scientific Integrity Charter of the ANR

-Integrity and responsibility in research practices (CNRS-CPU)

-Scientific integrity guideline (CNRS, 2018)

-Guide for collecting and processing reports relating to scientific integrity

There are also training courses in research ethics and integrity – the MOOC “Research Integrity in Research Professions” (18) and the MOOC centered on research ethics, mainly intended for doctoral students. It was designed within the Research Ethics Platform of the University of Lyon (19).

RI dialogue and communication

The OFIS organizes the annual meeting of signatories of the French Charter of research deontology in which the universities and the other research institutions exchange policies, procedures and share their needs with OFIS (17).

Lay press occasionally discusses research integrity. News is usually related to cases of research fraud and academic corruption (Le Monde and Les Echos). Public perception of science was shaken and diminished when several cases of research fraud were published in the media (20). This brought up an initiative by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science to create the propositions for the implementation of the National Charter for the Research Integrity (21). The document “Overview and propositions of implementation of the charter” by Pierre Corvol was also presented in the press by the Minister of Higher Education and Research in 2016 (enrio creation of the French office for integrity in science).

RI incentives

The High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Hcéres) is administrative authority responsible for the evaluation of higher education institutions and research institutes. There are numerous awards and prizes for researchers. France also has the research tax credit (CIR) which supports business research and development activities by providing tax assistance (22).

Guidelines

France

A total of 6 guidelines were found. Add a Guideline.

• The French Vade Mecum on Scientific Integrity (October 2024)
• The French CNRS Ethics Committee's Guide to Integrity and Responsibility in Research Practices (March 2022)
• The French CNRS Ethics Committee's Ethical Reflection on Plagiarism in Scientific Research (March 2022)
• The French National Research Agency's Policy for Ethics and Research Integrity (March 2022)
• French National Charter for Research Integrity (October 2020)

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Ana Marusic, Andrijana Perković Paloš, Elsa Amin, Kalle Videnoja contributed to this report. Latest contribution was Nov 28, 2022