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Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences

Scientific integrity at SILS

At SILS, we value scientific integrity. On this page you can find more background on this and an overview of services and departments you can turn to when experiencing integrity issues.

Scientific Integrity at SILS

Within SILS all employees involved in research and teaching have their own responsibility for the maintenance of scientific integrity. As research institute SILS endorses the principles of the Dutch Code of Conduct Scientific Practice and has taken this as a guideline for its own Code of Conduct. This code commits the scientific practitioner to work in compliance with five principles: scrupulousness, reliability, verifiability, impartiality and independence.

Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2018) SILS Code of Conduct 2017 Guidelines for Research Data Management SILS

The UvA's Faculty of Science has established a Faculty Ethics Committee (FEC) that its researchers can turn to for advice on ethical questions connected to their research proposals.
Ronald Koes is a member of the committee on behalf of SILS. 

Learn more about the Faculty Ethics committee here.

Our main rule is: always address any potential ethical issue as soon as it is encountered. A first step could be to check with colleagues to see if your views or observations are shared or not, but either way, the organisation should know about any potential issue. This can start with talking to your own superiors, and if needed can be escalated to a complaint issued to the University Ethics Committee. The following escalation ladder is suggested:

  1. Contact your superior, discuss the issue and decide on which further action to take.

  2. If the outcome is not satisfactory (for instance the problem is down‐played), or if this is too problematic (for instance because he/she is involved), contact the director of the research department or ask for advice at the FEC. 

  3. If this is not satisfactory, or too problematic, or if you prefer absolute confidentiality, contact one of the university ' 'Vertrouwenspersonen' (Confidential Advisors) to discuss the issue. They treat cases confidentially, and action is taken after mutual agreement. You can find them on the UvA page for Confidential Advisors for Academic Integrity.

  4. You can submit a formal complaint to the UvA Academic Integrity Committee, or alternatively to the Board of the University.