Conducting research responsibly means that the individuals involved in research exhibit honest and ethical behaviour at all stages of this work: from the development of the research idea, to the request for funding, the collection, analysis and retention of data as well as the dissemination of the results.
Who does the Policy apply to?
All members of the University community who are engaged in research, including:
- Employees (unionized and non-unionized academic and administrative staff as well as those whose salary is paid through sources other than the University’s operating funds, such as grants, research grants and external contracts);
- Students (full time or part time), special students, at the undergraduate or graduate level;
- Clinicians and physicians with an academic appointment, adjunct and emeritus professors, post-doctoral or clinical fellows, Research Trainees, medical residents, visitors, including visiting students and volunteers.
Note: The Policy applies to all funded or unfunded research projects, regardless of the location of the Research.
How can you conduct yourself responsibly?
- Respect the University’s policies as well as applicable professional and disciplinary standards.
- Comply with applicable laws and regulations.
- At a minimum, researchers are responsible for the following:
- Using a high level of rigour in: proposing research; performing research; recording, analyzing, and interpreting data; and reporting and publishing data and findings.
- Keeping complete and accurate records of data, methodologies and findings, including graphs and images, in accordance with the applicable funding agreement, institutional policies and/or laws, regulations, and professional or disciplinary standards in a manner that will allow verification or replication of the work by others.
- Referencing and, where applicable, obtaining permission for the use of all published and unpublished work, including data, source material, methodologies, findings, graphs and images.
- Including as authors, with their consent, all those and only those who have materially or conceptually contributed to, and share responsibility for, the contents of the publication or document, in a manner consistent with their respective contributions, and authorship policies of relevant publications.
- Acknowledging, in addition to authors, all contributors and contributions to research, including writers, funders and sponsors.
- Appropriately manage any real, potential or perceived conflict of interest, in accordance with the institution's policy on conflict of interest in research.
