INSPIRE project - Inventory in the Netherlands of Stakeholders’ Practices and Initiatives on Research integrity to set an Example
INSPIRE project - Inventory in the Netherlands of Stakeholders’ Practices and Initiatives on Research integrity to set an Example
What is this about?
Why is this important?
In recent years, many initiatives to address research integrity and related problems in science have been developed. However, the success of these initiatives requires understanding of the code of conduct, the research culture and the context of the science system. Relevant knowledge on how to foster responsible research practices (RRP) in various contexts is fragmented, local initiatives are very diverse, and available evidence on best practices in and outside the Netherlands are only used to a limited extent.
The INSPIRE project aims to reduce this fragmented situation, by collecting current and planned initiatives for fostering responsible research practices, identifying good practices and unique initiatives by the use of a checklist, and by publicly sharing the relevant information to assist implementation in other institutions. A publicly available toolbox with initiatives to foster RRP, prevents ‘reinventing the wheel’.
The project goes beyond the scope of just sharing knowledge. It activates policy makers, administrators, teachers, researchers, supervisors, editors, and other stakeholders to make contributions and reflect on their own practices. Consequently, we aim to inspire and enable all stakeholders in scientific research to facilitate measures locally that foster responsible research practices and take up the challenge and their duty.For whom is this important?
What are the best practices?
The INSPIRE Checklist
Part of the INSPIRE project was to develop a checklist to assess and classify initiatives that foster responsible research practices. Following a Delphi method including two online surveys and a workshop, a checklist was drafted, piloted and revised until consensus among the INSPIRE team was achieved. The result is an extensive yet practical checklist that can be used by many stakeholders and for multiple purposes. It is used for the taxonomy of the spectrum of initiatives that soon will be made available at The Embassy of Good Science. The checklist can also be used by stakeholders to assess and improve their initiatives themselves, or by others who plan to implement an existing initiative, for example which they found in the spectrum on The Embassy!In Detail
Project team:
Project lead: Dr. Fenneke Blom
Junior researcher: Dorien van der Schot
Supervision: Prof. dr. Lex Bouter
Webcrawler: Marc-Philippe Verschuren
Assistants: Simone Dunn, Simon Crox, Nadja den Haan (Intern)
Advisory group: Dr. Daan Andriessen, Prof. dr. Frans van Lunteren, Dr. Lotte Melenhorst, Prof. dr. Yvo Smulders, Dr. Els Swennen, Dr. Joeri Tijdink, Prof. dr. Guy Widdershoven,The Embassy Editorial team, The Embassy editorial team, Iris Lechner, Natalie Evans, Fenneke Blom, Andrijana Perković Paloš contributed to this theme. Latest contribution was Oct 22, 2021