Good Scientific Practice
Learning from mistakes -
An innovate concept to promote Good Scientific Practice (GSP)
The Borstel Model of Good Scientific Practice represents an innovative concept for the integration of quality management into the daily work of scientific research. The aim is to create a working and communication culture in which every employee involved in the research process has an understanding of Good Scientific Practice (GSP) and has the competence to openly address conflicts arising in everyday working life, develop solutions in a team and introduce measures for improvement.
The Borstel model consists of 3 complementary moduls:
1. A workshop program for all scientifically active employees
The workshops were attended by all research groups and served to convey basic principles of GSP, interaction psychology, and communication theory. In practical work units, a bottom-up process was used in the research groups to survey, analyze and evaluate the work and team situation and to identify and define measures for improvement.
2. Creation of infrastructures to promote Good Scientific Practice
Installation of a Good Scientific Practice coordination office, introduction of a Research Center Borstel laboratory notebook, Good Scientific Practice toolbox in the intranet, brochure for new employees, training materials.
3. The implementation of Good Scientific Practice measures in the daily work routine
Contact person for Good Scientific Practice: “scientific integrity scouts” in each research group. These are employees who have agreed to take up and address Good Scientific Practice topics in their research group, to give regular impulses in order to anchor Good Scientific Practice in everyday working and to familiarize new staff members with the culture of Good Scientific Practice. The scientific integrity scouts are instrumental in creating a vivid culture of Good Scientific Practice at the Research Center Borstel.
This concept of a sustained promotion of Good Scientific Practice was supported by the Leibniz association as a pilot project in order to improve the conditions for the prevention of scientific misbehavior and the support of scientific integrity.
The German Research Foundation (DFG) cites "The Borstel Model" as a best practice example for implementing the "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice" (KODEX) on their website scientific integrity. This model can serve as a blueprint for other institutions and universities to establish similar approaches
Publication on the development, but also on the challenges in establishing the scout system at FZB: Mission impossible? A cultural change to support scientific integrity, EMBO Reports.
Contact
The brochure “Gute wissenschaftliche Praxis – das Borsteler Modell” (German) with detailed information on the concept and the Good Scientific Practice-Workshops is available for download here.
GWP-Coordination
Ombudsmen
Deputies
Scientific Integrity Scouts / GWP-Impulsgeber sind Ansprechpartner:innen für GWP-Themen rund um den Forschungsprozess in ihren Forschungsgruppen. Die Impulsgeberinnen und Impulsgeber sind maßgeblich daran beteiligt, eine lebendige Kultur guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis am Forschungszentrum Borstel zu schaffen.
Das Dach für diese partizipative Struktur bildet die GWP-Koordination. Konzept, Entwicklung und Herausforderungen bei der Etablierung des GWP-Impulsgeber/scientific integrity scout - Systems am FZB finden Sie in dieser Publikation: Mission impossible? A cultural change to support scientific integrity, EMBO Reports.
Mehr über die Arbeit der Scientific Integrity Scouts erfahren sie hier anhand konkreter Beispiele:
Klicken Sie auf die Bilder für weiterführende Informationen
Primary research data represent the raw product of all scientific work, especially in biomedical research. Based on these data, further analyses are performed and they form the basis for subsequent interpretations developed in the context of various primary data sets.
The discourse in the scientific community, which is indispensable for the progress in science, is initiated by the publication of research data and the interpretations developed consequentially. Ensuring the quality of publications according to the rules of good scientific practice (institute agreement “Self-regulation in science” at the FZB) is thus of central importance for ensuring scientific progress.
The Research Center Borstel has enacted regulations for safeguarding published primary research data, which is intended to ensure the verifiability of published data and to prevent scientific misconduct. The binding rules for the documentation of published primary research data ensure a uniform procedure at the FZB and enable a review of published primary research data.
Laboratory Notebook
To ensure a uniform quality standard for the documentation of research data, the Research Center Borstel has introduced a binding institutional laboratory notebook and rules for the documentation.
Central Data Archive
The FZB has launched a central electronic archiving of primary research data for all publications. Authors are obliged to archive all primary data generated at the FZB to ensure their permanent safeguard and storage. Publications are to be documented with exact references to the underlying data sets (documentation of data processing, preproduction of data, exact information of the archiving location of the primary data with a definite allocation of primary research data to illustrations, tables and data-based text statements of a publication). The original data are electronically stored and transferred to the central electronic archiving system
The following Good Scientific Practice events take place regularly at the Research Center Borstel:
- Meeting of the „Scientific Integrity Scouts“:
Quarterly meetings of the scientific integrity scouts and the GSP coordinators for peer coaching, method training, exchange of experiences, and mutual strengthening and support.
- GSP-Day:
Annual event for all employees at the Research Center Borstel to exchange experiences and best practice examples, to receive current information of the GSP coordination and new impulses from external speakers.
- GSP-Reflection Meeting:
Annual meeting of the CEO with the GSP coordination, the scientific integrity scouts and the ombudsmen for a status and demand analysis and the planning of defined measures for the enhancement of a GSP-promoting institute cultureAnnual meeting of the CEO with the GSP coordination, the scientific integrity scouts and the ombudsmen for a status and demand analysis and the planning of defined measures for the enhancement of a GSP-promoting institute culture.
- GSP-Introduction Event:
Introduction event for new research groups at the Research Center Borstel.
