Open Science, transparency and ethical conduct in research

Goal by 2023

BFH has an Open Science strategy and respects the integrity guidelines of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and of swissuniversities.

Why this topic is relevant for BFH

Research is based on the development and exchange of knowledge, which must be made comprehensible and able to withstand critical scrutiny. Transparency and openness both within the research community and towards society are central to good research with integrity.

Transparency and ethical conduct in research are guarantors of the credibility and reproducibility of research results. A lack of transparency in research – both in the declaration of vested interests and in the communication of research processes and results – can lead to scientific findings being doubted or, in the worst case, being rejected or not being accessible.

Open Science and Open Access enable easy access to scientific results worldwide and are central to the further development of a global equal-opportunity society. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that the disclosure of research results and their accessibility provides other researchers the possibility to develop the results further. This means that solutions can be found quickly.

Active commitment to integrity in research

Since the revised law on universities of applied sciences now includes an article on scientific integrity, BFH has drawn up regulations in the year under review – based on the code of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and swissuniversities as well as existing guidelines – which are to come into force together with the revision of the law in 2023. In particular, the regulations govern the procedure from reporting to possible responsive measures in cases of scientific misconduct as well as the creation of a new reporting office in 2023.

In addition, an ‘Ethics Advisory Group’ was founded by the BFH Research Commission at the beginning of 2021 to advise on general ethical concerns in internal research projects, to assess the likely competence of the Cantonal Ethics Committee and to ensure the correct handling of data protection issues.

How BFH addresses this topic