Scientific Integrity

The importance of scientific quality assurance is a key lesson from the Covid-19 pandemic – in addition to the importance of Open Science. During the pandemic, there have been isolated but important incidents that have created risks for the credibility of science. There have been accusations of falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism; some accusations have later been confirmed.

Scientific quality assurance and thus, ensuring Scientific Integrity, is necessary in the entire scientific process: from setting the agenda to the study design, from collection and processing of data to the publication and interpretation of results. Ensuring Scientific Integrity has individual as well as systemic requirements. It touches upon ethical as well as technical questions.

Scientific Integrity entails the consideration and appropriate negotiation of diverging – maybe even conflicting – interests of all stakeholders involved. Every science system – whether it is a well-resourced system in an industrialized country of the Global North, whether it is one with scarce resources in the Global South – has to address Scientific Integrity and has specific challenges.

Ensuring Scientific Integrity is necessary for a number of reasons, beyond assuring the quality, validity and reliability of the scientific results. It is also necessary to legitimise the resources that societies invest in science.

Thus, by this digital meeting, UNESCO and the German Commission for UNESCO would like to further support lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, and complement the achievements already made in the formulation of the proposed UNESCO Open Science recommendation; building as well on the 2017 UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers. The participants are invited to discuss questions such as:

1. What is Scientific Integrity? Why and how is it relevant for both science and society?
2. Which challenges to Scientific Integrity do participants observe today in their particular national/regional science system?
3. What good practices of mechanisms, regulations and institutions can be helpful in order to prevent misconduct?
4. If participants consider Scientific Integrity relevant for UNESCO and its networks: What might be a way forward?

Working languages: English and French (simultaneous interpretation will be provided)

Participation in the event is by invitation only. If you have any further inquiries, please contact @email