The Research Ethics Policy (REP) is developed to ensure integrity, quality and originality in research. The policy provides detailed guidelines to research scholars, students, staff, employees, supervisors and evaluators related to ethics in research. The policy also discusses circumstance, situations and points that need to be avoided in order to ensure research integrity and quality. Conflict of interest that may arise between institution, researcher, supervisor and evaluators are covered under the ambit of this policy and relevant guidelines are also provided. Lastly, the policy also discusses the formation and role of SZABUL Internal Ethical Review Board.

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to scholars, faculty members, supervisors, and other staff desirous in performing research work at SZABUL related to ethical procedures, guidelines, and processes that are to be complied with in order to ensure dignity, rights, safety, and well-being of all research participants, university, research community, and society. The policy will provide a framework which will help in identification and rectification of ethical issues which will enhance the quality of research work. All research activities, including research publications conducted by employees, faculty, and staff of all departments in SZABUL, and students/research scholars enrolled in all programs involved in research and research publication, will be governed by the rules and guidelines provided in this policy. This policy applies to all university employees engaged in research, students of the university, and other individuals who are undertaking research using university premises or facilities and/or in the university’s name. The ethical policy is designed to act as a deterrent rather than a punishment for avoiding unethical practices by the research fraternity.

All research work, including research proposals, synopsis, thesis, and dissertations, must adhere to the following ethical guidelines. Researchers who are employees, faculty, staff, and students of SZABUL are to ensure that their research work, including publications, is in line with the guidelines provided as under:

• Research work/publication being carried out by researchers must adhere to the international standards of scientific research to ensure the highest quality in research work.

• In general, researchers should aim to maximize the benefits for individuals and society at large and should attempt to minimize the risk and harm to individuals and society.

• Plagiarism: All research work, including research proposals, synopsis, thesis, and dissertations, must adhere to the following ethical guidelines. Researchers who are employees, faculty, staff, and students of SZABUL are to ensure that their research work, including publications, is in line with the guidelines provided as under:

  • Pure duplication or replication of other work will be considered a serious offense and will be dealt with accordingly.

  • Researchers translating others’ work presented in a foreign language and using it either completely or paraphrasing it as their own will be considered a severe violation of ethical standards.

  • It is the responsibility of the researcher to properly cite the contents, quotations, and ideas of another researcher. Any researcher found citing others' content as their own will fall under the ambit of plagiarism.

  • Plagiarism will also include using other researchers’ content in establishing findings, ideas, hypotheses, concepts, theories, interpretations, and designs as your own.

  • Researchers citing others’ ideas, content, and material early in their work and then subsequently using the same idea, content, and other material in their research without further referencing will also be classified as plagiarism.

  • Plagiarism in all its forms is an unethical practice, and therefore it is completely unacceptable and should be avoided by the researcher.

• It is the author/researcher's responsibility to ensure their research work is honest and true. The research work should be original and give proper credit to other researchers by proper citation.

• Research Integrity: All faculty, staff, and students engaged in research are responsible for adhering to the highest standards of research integrity and conducting research following international and national ethical requirements. Research integrity will be considered compromised under the following conditions:

  • Fabrication of research data, either by false creation, alteration, or other aspects of research work.

  • Misrepresentation of data and relevant information knowingly, recklessly, or by gross negligence through suppression of relevant findings, criticism, research data, test results, limitations, or through flawed representation of findings, criticism, research data, test results, and others.

  • Falsification of research through inappropriate manipulation or selection of other researcher’s work.

  • Ignoring or improperly dealing with arguments, criticism related to research theories, constructs, or any other aspect of research.

  • Research integrity would also be compromised through distortion, including misleading usage of scientific research methods, biased interpretation of sources and other research work, skewed selection of data, and misleading use of statistical techniques.

  • Using unpublished work of others without consent and/or proper citation/acknowledgment obtained through peer review, discussion, evaluation, or any means will be considered a breach of ethical guidelines.

  • Concealment by the researcher would imply withholding relevant information, critiques, research participants, or any information that may have an adverse effect on their work.

• Conflict of Interest: Research work/publication should be independent and free from any conflict of interest that may affect the research or its publication, either completely or partially. The conflict of interest may arise under the following conditions:

  • Any circumstance where the researcher’s obligation to the university or research fund organization is compromised or may appear to be compromised.

  • Situations where personal or financial gain, either for the researcher or a close relation, arises from the research.

  • It is the responsibility of the researcher to report all instances of favors obtained or granted to anyone related or otherwise, and to report potential conflicts of interest.

• Furnishing / Publication Guidelines: All printed materials related to research work, such as research reports, theses, dissertations, and articles, will be subject to the following conditions:

  • The researcher is responsible for honestly and accurately representing authorship, ensuring that coauthors have actually contributed to the publication.

  • Simultaneous submission of a manuscript to multiple journals is not allowed. Researchers are responsible for withdrawing a manuscript from one journal before submitting it to another.

  • It is also the researcher’s responsibility to report any errors or inaccuracies in already submitted or published work.

  • Scientific research requires time and commitment. Researchers must ensure adequate time has been spent on completing their work, and if insufficient time is spent, it will be subject to ethical review.

  • Publishing more than two articles in a single journal issue is unethical, and the researcher will be considered to have violated research ethics.

  • Back issue publications, publishing research papers in already published journal issues, is also a violation of ethical codes.

  • Researchers with the ability to influence publications in journals, by virtue of their position, are prohibited from publishing their own articles in those journals, as this constitutes a violation of ethical standards.

• Any researcher found using their position or authority to take advantage of a supervisor or evaluator will be in violation of ethical research conduct.