General conditions for good research

Image: Paavo Blafield

Research work will only be successful and recognised in the academic world and by the general public if it complies with generally recognised principles of good academic practice. Other aspects in the tense relationship between academic freedom and the rights of third parties are, for example, ethics issues or protecting and managing data that is prepared or gathered as part of research projects. The Research Services Office provides information on the key principles of good research and connects you with further points of information at the university.

 

Principles of good academic practice

German Research Foundation guidelines

The German Research Foundation (DFG) adopted principles for good academic practice in January 1998 in order to prevent any academic misconduct.

Principles at the University of Kassel

The “Principles for Safeguarding Good Academic Practice” define the DFG guidelines more precisely and how they should be implemented at the University of Kassel.

Safeguarding good academic practice

An investigation committee to ensure good academic practice clarifies the facts of the case according to the principles adopted by the university, if any academic misconduct is suspected.

Research ethics

The University of Kassel places special importance on the area of conflict between research goals and freedom of research and complying with ethical principles. One major area of focus is on the responsibility of those involved in research and its possible consequences in society. The ethics committee at the university provides advice before the start of project, if requested, if ethical issues could be violated during the process.

Research ethics: Forward

Research data management

In the course of increasing amounts of data in research and its subsequent use, the conscious and organised handling of this information is becoming more and more important and is now also a binding requirement for research proposals in the Horizon Europe framework programme as well as for the DFG. The University Library, the IT Service Centre and the University Administration have developed an overall concept for handling research data at the University of Kassel. The project work is accompanied and steered by a university steering committee. The steering committee formally approves important concepts and milestones, sub-projects as well as the completion of an overall project and monitors the use of resources in the project.

Data protection with research projects

Each research project, where personal data or data that could be attributed to persons is processed, is subject to strict data protection regulations. You can find more information at the data protection information site.

Data protection with research projects: Forward

Open Access

In the years 2022 to 2024, the DFG (German Research Foundation, DFG) will support the operation of the Open Access Publication Fund administered by UB Kassel as part of its "Open Access Publication Costs" infrastructure funding program. A total of 431 OA journal articles can be subsidized with EUR 700 each, as well as a total of 9 OA monographs with up to EUR 5,000 per title, provided the latter are based on DFG-funded research projects. This additional funding noticeably improves the endowment of the fund, which is operated from the UB's own resources, and makes it possible to adjust the funding conditions. As of this year, the UB is funding journal articles in pure OA journals with up to EUR 2,000 net plus tax. The exact funding conditions can be found on the Publication Fund page.