Principles and Responsibilities

The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018) (ACRCR 2018), developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council and Universities Australia, articulates the principles and responsibilities that characterise an honest, ethical and conscientious research culture.

The ACRCR 2018 is supported by guides on specific topics to encourage responsible research conduct. This includes guides on:

  • Managing and investigating potential breaches of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research
  • Authorship
  • Management of data and information in research
  • Peer review
  • Disclosure of interests and management of conflicts of interest
  • Supervision
  • Collaborative research
  • Publication and dissemination of research
  • Research Integrity Advisors Guide

Principles

The ACRCR 2018 defines the principles as:

  • Honesty in the development, undertaking and reporting of research
  • Rigour in the development, undertaking and reporting of research
  • Transparency in declaring interests and reporting research methodology, data and findings
  • Fairness in the treatment of others
  • Respect for research participants, the wider community, animals and the environment
  • Recognition of the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be engaged in research that affects or is of particular significance to them
  • Accountability for the development, undertaking and reporting of research
  • Promotion of responsible research practices

Responsibilities

The UNE Code of Conduct for Research Rule (CCR) is based on the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 2018 (ACRCR 2018) and outlines the responsibilities for individual researchers, and for UNE.

  • A researcher is a person (or persons) who conducts, or assists with the conduct of, research.
  • UNE researchers must adhere to the principles and responsibilities as set out in the CCR at every stage of their research activities.

Research Integrity at UNE

Research integrity is behaviour-based and requires adherence to the ethical principles and professional standards essential for the responsible conduct of research.
UNE manages potential breaches of research integrity in line with the Research Conduct - Managing Potential Breaches Procedures, under the Code of Conduct for Research Rule.

The Research Integrity Office handles all complaints about research integrity at UNE.  More information on making inquiries or complaints about research integrity, and the contact details for the Research Integrity Office, are available at:

Other UNE resources for informing the responsible conduct of research:

  • Maintaining good research data management, and a developing a data management plan as early as possible in the research process, is an essential step towards good data integrity.  
    See further information on research data management.
  • Obtaining ethics approval for research involving animals or humans, before the research commences, is mandatory.
    See further information on Human Research Ethics.
    See further information on Animal Research Ethics.
  • Responsibly publishing along with managing copyright, licensing, obtaining permissions, and using third party copyright material are all important aspects of responsible research conduct.
    See further information on publishing and copyright.