Report:2e3c5d2d-ea34-40f6-86ac-67fbc796919f

Facts & Figures

Finland

Where

• Finland

Research infrastructure

In 2019, there were 51,500 full-time researchers in Finland (1). Finland has 14 universities, 22 universities of applied sciences, 12 state research institutes, 4 science agencies and research institutes under the steering of the Ministry of Education and Culture, 4 academic institutes abroad and non-profit limited company: CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd (owned by the State and higher education institutions) (2).

Finland has several research libraries: The National Library of Finland, the libraries of universities and universities of applied sciences, Library of Parliament, Library of Statistics and other specialised libraries at research institutes, government agencies and museums (2).

Organisation	City
Public universities
Aalto University	Espoo
University of Helsinki	Helsinki
University of Eastern Finland	Joensuu, Kuopio
University of Jyväskylä	Jyväskylä
University of Lapland	Rovaniemi
LUT University	Lappeenranta, Lahti
University of Oulu	Oulu
Hanken School of Economics	Helsinki, Vaasa
University of the Arts Helsinki	Helsinki, Kuopio, Seinäjoki
Tampere University	Tampere
University of Turku	Turku
University of Vaasa	Vaasa
Åbo Akademi University	Turku
National Defence University	Helsinki

Research funding

In 2019, the gross expenditures on research and development were €6.7 billion, which comprises 2.79% of the country’s GDP (1). Most funding was spent in the business enterprise sector (65.6%), higher education (25.4%) and government sector (9.0%) (1). Finland had 2.067 signed grants receiving €1.42 billion and 149 ERC grants, receiving €225.5 million (3).

Research strategy

In 2013, Finnish government launched the Finland’s Strategy and Roadmap for Research Infrastructures 2014-2020. The Strategy’s main scope was to be recognized for its “internationally competitive science and high-quality research infrastructures” by renewing teaching, society and the business sector using following measures: long-term development of research infrastructures, improvements to the access to and collaborative use of research infrastructures, supporting of the funding base of research infrastructures, provision of a basis for the methodological development of research infrastructures and evaluation of the significance and impact of research infrastructures (4).

Research governance, compliance and integrity

Finland has several national bodies for research ethics and research integrity. Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK) is appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture on the proposal of the scientific community. TENK monitors research integrity by following and compiling statistics on violations of responsible conduct of research and acting as an appeal body on RCR investigations. It has issued national guidelines on research integrity and on ethical review in the human sciences. All Finnish research organisations are committed to these guidelines (5). Besides research integrity TENK also coordinates the ethical reviewing of the human sciences. Ethical review of non-medical research involving human participants is based on a set of guidelines drawn up by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK - The ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences in Finland. Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK guidelines 2019.

TENK has created a network of Research Integrity Advisers. It has trained more than 144 advisers in 74 research organisations that provide advices to researchers and other staff in their organisations (6).

Finland has 9 regional research ethics committees established by the University hospital districts (7). There are independent and voluntary based research ethics committees for other fields, such as humanities or studies on national registers at universities and research centres (7). There are also many local ethics committees in hospitals, research institutes and universities (8).

Finnish institutions have a high degree of cooperation when it comes to handling violations of research integrity and research ethics. Procedures for dealing with misconduct can be found in TENK guidelines which were signed by all universities, majority of universities of applied sciences and publicly funded research institutions. Guidelines suggest that each institution should deal with possible cases of misconduct (9). Research organisations who signed the agreement for adhering to TENK guidelines have taken the responsibility to follow the procedures named in guidelines when it comes to dealing with cases of alleged violations of the responsible conduct of research. The decision whether a violation of research integrity occurred is brought by the rector of the university, or if the university so decides, the chancellor, the rector of a university of applied sciences, or the director of the research organisation. The allegations of research misconduct and decision related to the allegations are reported to TENK for the purpose of monitoring the compliance with guidelines. If a party in the process is unsatisfied with the decision, the TENK statement regarding the case can be requested in the period of 6 months.

TENK does not publish its concrete decisions, but according to the Finnish law of general publicity, all official documents are available for stakeholders. Usually, rector investigates the alleged violations of research integrity upon the notification but in some cases, it can conduct the investigation of allegations that have come to his/her attention from other channels. Furthermore, TENK can also initiate the investigation if it has reasons to suspect misconduct occurred at the research organisation.

If the allegations of research misconduct are unfounded, the rector’s decision to stop the investigation process can be publicly announced. Moreover, if the investigation confirms the research misconduct the findings contained in the final report must be published at least in the publication channel where the fraudulent research findings or results based on fraudulent means have already been published. If the investigation finds that the person alleged of misconduct has not violated the responsible conduct of research, an effort must be made to publish the findings of the investigation in an appropriate publication channel if the person alleged of misconduct wants, or if there are other compelling reasons. TENK statements are publicly available and in its annual report cases of research misconduct are presented in the anonymous form (10).

According to TENK guidelines, the written allegation of research misconduct cannot be submitted anonymously. Moreover, in accordance with The Act on Openness of Government, the research organisation is when sending the documents to TENK, obliged to take into account the secrecy obligations that apply to the information included in the documents (11).

Interventional clinical trials on medicinal products must be reported to the Finnish Medicine Agency (FIMEA). FIMEA does not need to be notified of investigations other than interventional trials (12). The sponsor or the person responsible for the trial must provide a report on the results of the trial to FIMEA, not later than one year after the trial ends. The report on the results must also be submitted to the EU Clinical Trials Register (12).

Bodies for RE+RI	Scope
Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK)	Promotes the responsible conduct of research, prevents research misconduct, promotes discussion and spreads information on research integrity in Finland. It has issued national guidelines on research integrity and on ethical review in the human sciences. It acts as an appeal body on RCR investigations, monitors RI by following and complying statistics on violations of RCR, coordinates the ethical reviewing of the human sciences and provides advice in problematic situations.
National Advisory Board on Social Welfare and Health Care Ethics (ETENE)	Discusses general principles in ethical issues in the field of social welfare and health care.
National Committee on Medical Research Ethics (TUKIJA)	Serves as an expert on research ethics, advises regional ethics committees in the matters of ethical principle related to medical research and provides training. It is responsible for issuing opinions on the ethics of clinical drug trials that are to be run in Finland unless this task is delegated to a regional ethics committee. The Committee also evaluates the conditions for establishing a biobank.
Council on the protection of animals used for scientific or educational purposes	Monitors and promotes the implementation of the principle of replacement, reduction and refinement (“3R principle”). It issues proposals and statements to promote the principle and gives statements on other important measures and proposals concerning the use and welfare of animals used for scientific or educational purposes.
National Advisory Board on Biotechnology	Promotes cooperation between authorities, researchers and operators in biotechnology, monitors developments and research in gene technology as well as its health and environmental impacts. In addition, the Board monitors and promotes international cooperation in biotechnology and takes into account the ethical considerations of gene technology.
Board for Gene Technology	Acts as the authorising body regarding the use of genetically modified organisms in accordance with the Gene Technology Act (377/1995).

Laws and regulations

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

Law	Scope
Decree on the National Committee on Medical Research Ethics	Supports and coordinates the activities of the regional ethics committees in connection with the procedures regarding requesting opinions, participates in international cooperation regarding research ethics issues and collects and conveys information on research ethics issues. It also conveys information on the international discussion on ethics in the field of medical research and promotes the public discussion on medical and biomedical research.
Medical Research Act	Provides basic rules for medical research with humans.
Gene Technology Act	Promotes safe and ethical use and development of gene technology. It protects human and animal health and the environment when carrying out the contained use or deliberate release of genetically modified organisms into the environment.
Act on the Status and Rights of Patients	Regulates the patients’ status and rights in health care and medical care.
Act on the Use of Animals for Experimental Purposes	Ensures keeping and using animals in experimental animal activities only for necessary and important reasons.
Act on the Medical Use of Human Organs, Tissues and Cells	Lays down provisions on the use of: - human organs, tissues and cells for the treatment of human disease or injury - organs intended for transplantation - human embryos for a purpose other than fertility treatment or medical research- - human organs, tissues, cells and tissue samples for a purpose other than that for which they were removed or retained - cadaver for medical teaching and research etc.
Personal Data Act	Implements the protection of private life and other basic rights which safeguard the right to privacy and in the processing of personal data. It also promotes the development of and compliance with good processing practice.
Act on the Openness of Government Activities	Defines objectives of the right of access and the duties of the authorities regarding openness and good practice on information management in government.

Measures to promote good scientific practices and open science

RI training

There are various resources for RE and RI training. TENK has issued several guidelines regarding

research misconduct:

Responsible conduct of research and procedures for handling allegations of misconduct in Finland. Guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity 2012

Template for reporting allegations of violation of the responsible conduct of research (DOCX)

Recommendations of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK for Research Integrity Advisers

ethical review in human sciences:

The ethical principles of research with human participants and ethical review in the human sciences in Finland. Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK guidelines 2019

curriculum Vitae:

Researcher’s Curriculum Vitae Template. Recommendation of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK 2020

Researcher's Curriculum Vitae Template. Recommendation of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK (DOCX)

authorship:

Agreeing on authorship. Recommendation for research publications

doctoral dissertations:

Supervision of doctoral dissertations and their review process in Finland with a special emphasis on research integrity. Recommendations to universities by the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity and Universities Finland UNIFI.

National Committee on Medical Research Ethics (TUKIJA) provides TUKIJA’s seminar materials for RE and RI training.

RI dialogue and communication

A “Science Barometer” is published every third year. It reflects opinions of the public to on the impact of research to the society and credibility of universities and other research institutions in comparison to other societal institutions (church, parliament, court, police etc.). According to the Barometer, public perception of research integrity and trust in science in Finland is on a high level (13).

Research integrity is discussed in the lay press occasionally. The Finnish media wrote about scientific misconduct and TENK’s role and authority in the control of scientific misconduct (14).

RI incentives

Research integrity is a party of institutional quality assessment in Finland (15). The universities have a duty to organise an international research assessment every sixth year to measure the quality of research. The Academy of Finland conducts, coordinates and commissions evaluations of research with a view to improving both its performance and the quality and impact of Finnish science and research (16).

TENK provides annual training for advisers who are later appointed to research institutions to give advice concerning research integrity (17).

PhD programs at universities use online courses for the education on research integrity. There is also some training in research integrity for teachers at universities and universities of applied sciences regarding RI but it should be further developed and adapted in institutions (18).

Guidelines

Finland

A total of 7 guidelines were found. Add a Guideline.

• The Finnish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and Procedures for Handling Alleged Violations of Research Integrity in Finland (April 2024)
• Finnish TJNK Guideline on Bold Communication, Responsible Influence. Science Communication Recommendations (April 2024)
• Finnish TENK Guide to Agreeing on Authorship: Recommendation for Research Publications (March 2022)
• Recommendations of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK for Research Integrity Advisers and related background organisations1 (March 2022)
• Declaration of Helsinki (July 2021)

... further results

Ana Marusic, Andrijana Perković Paloš, Elsa Amin, Joshua Gualtieri contributed to this report. Latest contribution was Apr 10, 2024