Good academic practice (GWP)
Good academic practice (GWP) is at the core of scientific integrity and credibility. This page provides information on the guidelines and standards of good academic practice according to which researchers at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin work. The Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin pursues a resource-orientated approach: transparent information, good training and support offers for researchers are the guidelines and best guarantees for the implementation of good scientific practice. Should problems arise, the right contact points can be found here.
At Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin, researchers conduct their research lege artis, i.e. "according to the rules of the art". In this way, they ensure the high quality and integrity of their research results.
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Statutes on good academic practice (GWP) at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin - research lege artis
In March 2023, Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin updated its Statutes on safeguarding good academic practice [inofficial English version] and dealing with allegations of academic misconduct and the associated implementation regulations. In doing so, it is also implementing the guidelines of the German Research Foundation (DFG), which the DFG formulated in 2019. Link
In the Statutes the following aspects are described in detail:
- the standards of good academic practice,
- good academic practice in the research process and
- procedures in the event of suspected academic misconduct
To the Statutes of Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin [German]: Link [inofficial English version: Link]o the updated implementation regulations (dec. 2023):?Link [just available in German].
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Training
Continuing education programmes on good academic practice at Humboldt-Universit?t
Training and information services offered by the University Library
The University Library of the Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin sees its mission as promoting skills in the field of good academic practice at an early stage and presenting itself as a point of contact for students and academics. Over the last 15 years the range of workshops and training courses has therefore been continuously developed and expanded, from introductions to database research and workshops on literature management programmes to complete packages such as "Compact course in life sciences" and "My first term paper", in which we provide tips on correct citation and plagiarism avoidance, among other things. Courses on literature management programmes and research data management are particularly popular with higher semesters, doctoral students and postgraduates.
In the lecture series "Lost in dissertation", which the HU University Library organises annually together with colleagues from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Freie Universit?t Berlin and Technische Universit?t Berlin, doctoral students receive a compact lecture programme on topics relating to good academic practice.
To the programmes
Offers on good academic practice for doctoral candidates
The Humboldt Graduate School offers doctoral candidates workshops and online training courses on good academic practice.
- Information on workshops: Link to the callendar Link
- The online training course on good academic?practice comprises five modules that can be completed with a certificate.
- Good academic?practice is also a focus of the "Graduate Studies Support Programme" of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). The BUA aims to improve conditions for doctoral candidates by offering joint further education programmes and supervision. Link
- Further information on doctoral studies can be found on the doctoral portal. Link
Offers on good academic practice for supervisors
- Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin attaches particular importance to the supervision of researchers at early career stages. The Humboldt Graduate School (HGS) offers annual and on-demand workshops, coaching and intervision for newly appointed and interested researchers to support good supervision during the doctorate. Link
- The supervision agreement between doctoral candidates and supervisors is an important instrument for clarifying goals and time frames as well as mutual responsibilities and tasks for the doctoral project in order to avoid disagreements later on. Guidelines and regulations on supervision as well as a sample supervision agreement can be found here: Link
Training courses on research data management (RDM)
The RDM initiative of Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin offers training courses on research data management, data publication, data management planning, legal fields of action and GitLab for doctoral candidates and researchers.
To the RDM initiative: Link
To the training courses: Link
In addition, the initiative also offers video tutorials, presentation slides and information material on research data in various disciplines and on data management plans. Link?[German], link [english page]
Once a year, the RDM initiative at HU Berlin, which is based at the CMS, takes part in the international "Love Data Week" campaign. Information can be found here: Link
Online training course on good academic practice for doctoral students of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA): Link
Training and further education programmes offered by the Berlin University Alliance (BUA): Link
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Resources
Humboldt-Universit?t's support services for good academic practice
Publishing support
In the spirit of open science, research results, data, software and publications at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin should be made accessible as early as possible and as far as legally possible (see §2 of the GWP statutes). The University Library provides support and advice on all issues relating to Open Access in the publication of research results: Link
Further support services:
- University Publishing: The HU has co-founded the Berlin Open Access publishing house Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP) in 2023. BerlinUP is a publication venue for quality-assured open access publications and offers publisher-independent advice on, among other things, the evaluation of scientific publication venues. The counselling service is available to all HU members. Link
- Publishing: The EDOC server of the University Library can be used for the publication of research results and qualification theses. Link
- Affiliation information: The guideline for the standardised indication of affiliation in scientific publications can be found here: Link
- ORCID: The use of ORCID is supported and recommended by the University Library so that publications can be clearly assigned to both the authors and Humboldt-Universit?t (§6, para. 4 of the GWP Statutes): Link
Finadable, Accessable, Interorperable, Re-Usable (FAIR)
When handling data, researchers at the Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin should be guided by the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessable, Interoperable, Re-usable) or the FAIR4RS principles (for research software) in accordance with the standards of their subject areas (see GWP Statutes §6). The research data management (RDM) initiative at Humboldt-Universit?t offers extensive counselling and training in this area. Link
Special offers
- Research data policy: Link
- Creating a data management plan (DMP): information?on the CMS-Website.
- Archiving and making research data accessible:
- Legal aspects for the publication of research data: Link
- Storage of personal data (see §6 of the GWP statutes) - Data Protection Officer: Link
Responsible research
Increasingly, scientific journals, research sponsors, research institutions and ethics guidelines are demanding the submission of ethics opinions from ethics committees. At Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin, researchers can turn to the ethics committees of their faculties.
Ethics committees of the faculties
- Faculty of Life Sciences:
- Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences: Link
- Faculty of Humanities?and Social Sciences: Link
- Faculty of Language, Literature and Humanities: Link
- Faculty of Economic and Business Administration: Link
- Contact the Faculty of Arts and?Humanities, the Faculty of Law, and the Faculty of Theology?directly via the faculty administration
The ethics committees of the faculties are also the first point of contact for advice on security-related research (dual use). The "Joint Committee on Safety-Related Research" of the Lopoldina and DFG provides explanations on the area of safety-related research in its FAQs: Link
See also the following section.