Clarification of research
integrity norms in diverse research disciplines
Project Overview
Research institutes in Japan have been developing systems to promote research activities under the assurance of research integrity. In recent years, there has been an increase in duplicate submission/publication and inappropriate authorship problems. Although research integrity norms are commonly understood, each research field has a different approach when applying to specific cases, such as what kind of behavior is considered submission/publication and inappropriate authorship problems. In many cases, specific guidelines do not clearly state by academic associations. In a situation where the boundary between inappropriate behavior and appropriate research activities is unclear, it may lead to problems such as research misconduct without the researchers' awareness.
This project aims to clarify specific norms of research integrity based on the diversity of research fields and to implement/share the clarified norms of research integrity in the research field through research ethics education and training.
Member
Masaki Nakamura:
Professor at the Center for Education in Liberal Arts and Science, Osaka University (OU); Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities, OU; Professor at the Research Center on Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues, OU; Visiting Researcher at Institute of Research Integrity, Osaka Metropolitan University; Member of the Science Council of Japan; Founding member of Global Young Academy. His work in promoting research integrity takes many forms. For example, he is the Director of the Association for the Promotion of Research Integrity (APRIN), a member of the MEXT Council of Experts on the Promotion of Integrity in Research, and an advisor on research integrity of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Additionally, he is a member of the research misconduct investigation committees of several universities and a member of various other committees on research integrity. He is a co-author of For the Sound Development of Science: The Attitude of a Conscientious Scientist (edited by the Editorial Board of For the Sound Development of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science); Research Misconduct and Distorted Science: Beyond the STAP Cell Incident (edited by Eisuke Enoki; Nihon Hyoronsha); Science and Politics after the Disaster of March 11 in Japan (edited by Masaki Nakamura (Nakanishiya Shuppan); and other publications. Supervised the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Ethics e-Learning (eL CoRE) and collaborated in the creation of the APRIN e-Learning Program (eAPRIN).
Asako Miura:
Professor, Graduate School of Human Sciences, OU. She is engaged in relevant research in the field of social psychology from the perspectives of both research and education, with a focus on research methods and the systems surrounding research. She is involved in significant projects dealing with research integrity as a principal investigator, including the KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research Project Demand Characteristics Revisited: Exploring the Process of Generating Social Psychological Data (2018–2021) and Constructing Centers in Japan for Verifying the Reproducibility of Social Psychological Research (2015–2018). She has served on the editorial board of three special issues relating to this topic, including New Forms of Psychological Research in the journal Psychological Review. She is the author of Psychology Basics, Vol. 1: I see! – Psychological Research Methods (Kitaooji Shobo). She is the editor of Psychological Research Methods (Foundation for the Promotion of the Open University of Japan) and others. Moreover, she collaborated in the creation of the APRIN e-Learning Program (eAPRIN).
Hideki Ichida
Associate professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Science, Osaka Prefecture University. Director of the Institute of Research Integrity . He has been involved in project research and the development and implementation of educational programs in industry-academia and regional collaborations. He has also worked as a URA, and has been involved in activities related to the utilization of research results in universities for social implementation and the building of co-creation relationships with society. Currently, he is working on educational practices of research integrity from the perspective of promoting research innovation.
Jin Higashijima:
Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Global and Transdisciplinary Studies, Chiba University. She had managed the creation of teaching materials for the CITI Japan Program (currently eAPRIN), which is an e-learning program dealing with research integrity and ethics (2013–2015). She is currently researching content and methods for promoting research integrity and ethics education suitable for use within Japan, from the perspective of achieving responsible research and innovation.
Research
In our research projects, we are working on the following research items, focusing on double submissions (including self-plagiarism), inappropriate authorship, etc.
1Clarification of research fairness norms
- 1-1 Collection and analysis of writing guidelines and related regulations prepared by academic societies and journals in Japan and overseas
- 1-2 Interviews and questionnaire surveys on duplicate submission/publication, inappropriate authorship, and other issues with those involved in academic journals.
- 1-3 Clarification of research integrity norms based on the characteristics of research fields
2Development of education/training materials
- 2-1 Collection of case studies treated in existing research integrity education/training materials and survey the cases of research misconduct that have caused problems in the past
- 2-2 Development of educational materials that can be used for research integrity education and training in each research field, containing specific research integrity norms