Tag: featured

Researchers’ behaviours can seriously enhance or, on the contrary, undermine research integrity. Such behaviours are primarily driven by the attitudes and professional values of individual researchers, the institutional research climate, and the research system as a whole. The 7th edition of the World Conference on Research Integrity showed how much fostering it can create greater trust and knowledge.

Research Integrity as a driver of research excellence and public trust

Trust plays an important role in carrying out scientific research. Firstly, trust enables the promotion of relationships and cooperative activities between researchers. It includes collaborative work, publication, peer review, and data sharing. Trust is also at the heart of many different relationships in scientific research. When researchers work together on a project, they trust that they will receive appropriate credit, such as authorship. Similarly, when scientists read an article published in a professional journal, they trust that the work has been carried out as described, that the information relevant to evaluating the methods and results has been disclosed, and that the data has not been fabricated or falsified. Ultimately, research integrity is a moral duty intrinsic to the research profession. It is about ensuring that scientific practices are valid and reliable.

As far as society is concerned, researchers are expected to generate knowledge and expertise that can inform public policy. As such scientific research takes a leading role in policy debates on societal and social topics such as public health, climate change, sustainable economic development, and education. In this relation, the results of scientific research ought to be an honest and accurate reflection of the researcher’s work to inform public policy decisions.

LARI as an advocate for research integrity in Luxembourg

The Luxembourg Agency for Research Integrity (LARI) has a dual objective: to promote responsible conduct of research; and to ensure an independent inquiry and investigation in cases of alleged scientific misconduct.

LARI’s activities focus on investigating allegations of misconduct in research, including corrective actions. All of its interventions take place within an adversarial framework, in strict compliance with the principles of confidentiality and the presumption of good faith.

LARI makes its knowledge available for the sake of preventing research misconduct and raising awareness. As such, LARI provides established and early stage researchers with applied ethics training sessions.

The Luxembourg Agency for Research Integrity is responsible for dealing with reported breaches of research integrity, promoting good practice, and participating in relevant national and international initiatives.

The Luxembourg Agency for Research Integrity (LARI) plays a pioneering role in fostering responsible conduct of research. All of its interventions take place within an adversarial framework, in strict compliance with the principles of confidentiality and the presumption of good faith.

A pioneering Agency for Research Integrity in Luxembourg

Established in 2016, LARI is the national organisation in charge of the promotion and investigation of research integrity in Luxembourg. The Agency is a joint venture between its five founding members: the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), the University of Luxembourg (Uni.lu), the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) and the Luxembourg Institute for Socio-Economic Research (LISER).

As a member of the European Network of Research Integrity Offices (ENRIO), LARI is strongly connected at the international level with similar organisations. In total, more than 20 European countries have their national research integrity officers represented in ENRIO.

As an independent body, LARI was established to handle specific cases of alleged research misconduct. Its Commission for Research Integrity (CRI) consists of up to five members—all of whom renowned international researchers in their respective fields. The Commission provides a neutral and factual platform for investigating cases of research misconduct thoroughly and objectively. To guarantee the independence from the Luxembourg science and research system, the members of the Commission are from abroad.

Fostering integrity in research practices

LARI intersects with a variety of research disciplines including medicine, behavioural and social sciences, physical sciences and mathematics, engineering and materials sciences, law, and computing.

The Agency strengthens responsibility in research and ensures the observance of the respective guidelines. Its activities focus on investigating allegations of misconduct in research, including corrective actions.

LARI makes its knowledge available for the sake of preventing research misconduct and raising awareness. As such, LARI provides established and early stage researchers with applied ethics training sessions using a creative approach called CAPRI.

It also offers bioethics and research ethics consultation from a professional bioethicist.

Contacting LARI

The Agency can be contacted whenever advice is needed regarding research integrity. There are several methods to report a case. You can visit the LARI office in person and meet with the Secretary General. You can also send an email to secretarygeneral@lari.lu or send LARI postal mail. Anonymous reporting (including sending evidence files) can be done via the app, SIGNAL.

When the Agency receives a research misconduct allegation, it enters case into its registry and notifies the Commission’s chair and vice-chair. Evidence, including publications, copies of laboratory notebooks, patents, agreements and contracts, activity reports, correspondence, minutes of meetings, is collected to a secure cloud platform.

When it receives a report, the Commission for Research Integrity checks that the complaint falls within its remit and notifies its correspondent accordingly. Following the investigation and based on the opinions of CRI members, LARI forwards its conclusions and the entire case file to stakeholders and its board.

Independent inquiry and investigation in cases of suspected research misconduct are performed according to the principles of Section 3 of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

Read more about how we handle investigations