601 West Lombard Street
Baltimore MD 21201-1512
Reference: 410-706-7996
Circulation: 410-706-7928
Honesty
Strive for honesty in all communications. Honestly report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data.
Objectivity
Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where objectivity is expected or required. Avoid or minimize bias or self-deception. Disclose personal or financial interests that may affect research.
Integrity
Keep your promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and action.
Carefulness
Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own work and the work of your peers. Keep good records of research activities, such as data collection, research design, and correspondence with agencies or journals.
Openness
Share data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Be open to criticism and new ideas.
Respect for Intellectual Property
Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do not use unpublished data, methods, or results without permission. Give credit where credit is due. Give proper acknowledgement or credit for all contributions to research. Never plagiarize.
Confidentiality
Protect confidential communications, such as papers or grants submitted for publication, personnel records, trade secrets, and patient records.
Responsible Publication
Publish in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance just your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication.
Respect for colleagues
Respect your colleagues and treat them fairly.
Social Responsibility
Strive to promote social good and prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public education, and advocacy.
Non-Discrimination
Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors.
Competence
Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through lifelong education and learning.
Legality
Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies.
Human Subjects Protection
When conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy; take special precautions with vulnerable populations; and strive to distribute the benefits and burdens of research fairly.
*From What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important? By David B. Renik, J.D., Ph.D. (December 1, 2015), located on the NIH, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences website (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/index.cfm).
List taken from Dr. Renik’s essay and revised. Renik adapted the list from Shamoo A and Resnik D. 2009. Responsible Conduct of Research, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press). The 2015 edition is also available at the HSHSL.
Authorship should be discussed at the beginning of a project to avoid later disputes.
In keeping with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommendations on authorship, the HSHSL will require that authors meet all of the following criteria:
All team members who made a significant contribution to the project should be authors, and all authors should have made significant contributions to the project. A team member who has only collected data or who has only made revisions to the manuscript is not an author.
Author order should be decided by the group. Generally, the lead author should be listed first, and others should be listed based on relative contribution to the publication. Alphabetical order may be used in cases of equal contribution by multiple authors.