The Research Code Maastricht UMC+ endorses the five principles of the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity: honesty, scrupulousness, transparency, independence and responsibility.

Researchers must always strive to ensure that the standards for good research practice are fulfilled scrupulously. Non or partial-compliance with them undermines professional responsibility, which harms research, the relationship between individual researchers, and possibly also the public trust in and the credibility of research. Consult the comprehensive list of issues related to scientific integrity for information on what to do and links to available websites/tools.

In case of questions or complaints regarding scientific integrity, depending on the situation, different routes can be followed. To prevent sloppy referencing or plagiarism use the Similarity Check Service of the University Library.

The Executive Board of Maastricht UMC+ is ultimately responsible for proper conduct of scientific research with human participants. Therefore, for all studies (WMO and non-WMO, involving patients from the academic hospital Maastricht ) performed at Maastricht UMC+, approval must be obtained from the Executive Board of Maastricht UMC+. Therefore, all WMO-research and non-WMO research, involving patients from the academic hospital Maastricht , must be submitted to CTCM in parallel to METC. For non-WMO research, involving human participants that fall outside the scope of WMO and does not include patients form the academic hospital Maastricht , the research proposal should be submitted to the FHML-REC.

Permits to perform biomedical research with animals are strictly regulated and follow a multi-step workflow with several controls and decisionmaking processes. Researchers conducting animal testing need to meet the requirements stated in article 9 of the WoD.

Research involving GMOs is monitored by the biological safety officer at CRISP. Research involving ionizing radiation is monitored by the radiation protection expert at SBE. Consider the regulation described in the Nagoya protocol before collecting or ordening genetic resources from other countries.

Adequate supervision and training of a junior researcher by a supervisor is an important part of good academic practice. In addition, the junior researcher has the responsibilities to act professionally and accept guidance by supervisor(s). The supervisor(s) and the researcher should reach agreement upon the publication of the research findings and appropriate authorships. Ensure a fair allocation and ordering of authorship(s), in line with the criteria for authorship.

Proper data management is part of good research practice. Researchers are aware of open science, FAIR principles, GDPR and know how to handle in case of a (suspected) data breach or loss. Research processing personal data must be entered in the GDPR registration tool before starting.

Before entering an agreement with an external partner contact the office support unit of the applicable FHML Research Institute (for research conducted at the FHML) who will involve Legal Affairs for legal advice or CTCM (for legal advice concerning human research conducted at the academic hospital Maastricht or consultancies). For each study, the risks concerning knowledge security and the protective measures needed must be clear.

Ancillary activities that may affect the interests of UM/FHML or Maastricht UMC+ must be reported. There are instructions available for registering and granting ancillary activities. As a general rule, researchers are not allowed to accept gifts, invitations and/ or sponsoring in exchange for a favor. Researchers are expected to inform their manager directly whether they are facing a possible conflict of interest, or whether they have potentially conflicting interests outside the department.

Dependent on the type of research result, please consider important principles and points for determining which law applies and who will own the results. In case of a discovery or development that could be patented or exploited, contact the Valorisation & Business Development team well before publishing or presentation of the results.

Before publishing research results in the media or before doing an interview (e.g. radio/TV), contact the communication advisors of FHML (communicatie-fhml@maastrichtuniversity.nl | 043 3885713) and/or Maastricht UMC+ (https://www.mumc.nl/actueel/media/perscontact | 043 3877114).