Research Integrity & Research Ethics: Guidelines of the Austrian Science Funds

What is this about?

The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is the largest funding agency for basic research in Austria that contributes to cutting-edge research both in Austria and an international level. This organization aims to foster research that supports growth in different areas- scientific, economic and cultural. As a prominent research funding organization, the FWF plays a key role in encouraging and ensuring good research practice among researchers and research institutions. In this "roadmap" guideline meant for researchers and other stakeholders, they provide guidance in four areas: principles of research ethics and good research practice, good practices in the context of funding applications, statistics on research misconduct and responsible animal testing.

Why is this important?

In order to support and foster excellent research, the FWF expects researchers to adhere to the highest ethical standards. This requires a good understanding of the fundamentals of research ethics and research integrity, for which the guidelines of the Austrian Higher Education Conference (created in 2020) are used as a standard. Further, grant applicants need to be able to foresee and weigh the potential benefits, risks and ethical implications of their own research, as advised by the good practice recommendations of the OeAWI. The ethical implications of research involving animals receives added attention. The number and type of research misconduct cases in Austria from 2008 to 2020 are also listed.

For whom is this important?

ResearchersResearch institutions

What are the best practices?

Good scientific practices (general)

- Good practices in grant applications

- Ethics in research involving animals

Other information

Who

Austrian Science Fund

Where

Austria

Good Practices & Misconduct