Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and Research Integrity (RI)

Fondazione Telethon works to preserve and promote the responsible conduct of research (RCR) within the Telethon-funded research community. Research integrity (RI) is the basis of RCR and standard principles of RI are shared within the international scientific community, as laid out by the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

In line with these principles, Fondazione Telethon drew up a RI Policy for Telethon-funded scientists working in Institutions all over Italy.

Policy on Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and Research Integrity (RI)

Research integrity (RI) is the basis of responsible conduct of research (RCR) and standard principles of RI are shared within the international scientific community, as laid out by the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Fondazione Telethon (FT) is fully committed to preserve and promote the RCR within the Telethon-funded research community, both to ensure and strengthen high-quality research and to maintain public trust in its research enterprise.

Research misconduct traditionally is defined as fabrication (making up results and recording them as if they were real), falsification (manipulating research materials, equipment or processes or changing, omitting or suppressing data or results without justification), or plagiarism (using other people’s work and ideas without giving proper credit to the original source, thus violating the rights of the original author(s) to their intellectual outputs) in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. Scientific misconduct includes also the violation of ethical standards and protocols for human subject or animal research.

Applicants, Grantees and all research personnel (investigators, trainees, administrators and staff) related to any Telethon application or Telethon project must strictly adhere to the highest standards of good research practices, which includes the following contexts: research environment, training, supervision and mentoring, research procedures, safeguards, data practices and management, collaborative working, publication and dissemination, reviewing, evaluating and editing.

In particular, Fondazione Telethon requires that organisations where the Telethon-funded scientists work:

  • have policies, structures and training in place that enable students and researchers to understand and adopt good research practice, as it is of crucial importance that researchers master the knowledge, methodologies and ethical practices associated with their field.
  • have formal, written policy for preventing and dealing with Research misconduct. The policy should indicate how breaches of good research practice and professional disputes will be managed, describing the procedures for enquiries and investigations and possible sanctions in case of proven misconduct; the principle of integrity and fairness need to be incorporated into any investigation process. Fondazione Telethon reserves the right to request a copy of such document.

In case of allegations involving researchers funded by Fondazione Telethon , the institution should notify Fondazione Telethon and keep it informed, as well as potential research misconduct will result in Fondazione Telethon issuing a formal notification to the PI’s Host Institution, which should then respond according to its own policy for handling allegations of research misconduct.

Fondazione Telethon reserves the right to suspend the grant during the investigation and, in case the allegations are upheld, to impose sanctions that may include: the termination of the grant, the obligation to return grant money to Fondazione Telethon , the ineligibility to apply to Fondazione Telethon grants.

Reference: The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity Revised Edition, by ALLEA - All European Academies, Berlin 2017

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