CODE OF CONDUCT
Researchers at OBSERVARE – Observatory of Foreign Relations at Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, commit to the following code of ethics:
1. Be responsible for, within a community of knowledge, producing science as collective patrimony, thus contributing to progress at the service of humanizing society.
2. Foster freedom of thought, independence, critical and creative thinking, scientific rigor, reliability and credibility of their work.
3. Respect diversity of values, opinions and preferences of our scientific community members, community we wish is plural and supportive.
4. Reject practices of unfair competition among colleagues.
5. Accept only those tasks they consider they are skilled for because they master the necessary research methodologies and “state-of-the-art”, though acknowledging the need for continuous training.
6. Ensure that the information produced is verifiable, eventual uncertainties of their conclusions should be clearly expressed and proven results and mere hypotheses or speculations should be made distinct.
7. Acknowledge the social responsibility of their activity in terms of the impact of their publications or public positions, making sure their research does not inadvertently affect other people.
8. Refuse falsification and manipulation of data able to intentionally distort reality and ensure privacy whenever data confidentiality is at stake.
9. Steadfastly oppose any attempt to present others’ results as their own, either through literal plagiarism or through undue use of others’ ideas, as well as avoid quotes whose meaning, if out of context, may be completely distorted.
10. Pay special attention to the authorship of published texts, adequately mentioning all research participants, including students, whose authorization for publication should be requested; there should be no unreferenced use of previously published ideas.
11. Claim the co-authorship of a text only in case of significant participation and ensure names of authors are listed according to their intellectual input to the research.
12. Actively collaborate with research teams and reject withholding of information that hinders other researchers from carrying out the project.
13. Actively participate in peer reviewing, accepting to requests to review, ensuring that the process remains confidential, that the review is constructive and that deadlines are respected.
14. Commit to not submitting the same text for publication in more than a peer reviewed publication.
15. Respect interviewees, participants in surveys and opinion polls, ensuring they are informed of the objectives of the research project.
16. Respect culture and the natural and social environment of those groups involved in the research.
17. Establish a straightforward relation with funding institutions, clearly referring and never omitting any organization that contributed to make the study possible or collaborated with the study, as well as respect agreements concerning the ownership of the obtained results.
18. Expressly declare any conflict of interests, whether in terms of the study or the funding institutions, clearly stating any circumstances that may affect bias.
19. Support the organization of scientific events through participating, providing information required or other.
20. Promote the respectability and credibility of OBSERVARE and of Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa and carefully use the resources made available to the researchers.