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Scientific integrity

Do you teach or research at Maastricht University (UM)? Then you share in the responsibility for maintaining academic integrity. Our academic staff are expected to adhere to the general principles of professional academic practice at all times.  

Codes of Conduct

As a teacher or researcher, you bear personal responsibility and should observe the general principles and rules for professional academic conduct. 

UM endorses the principles of professional scientific conduct as expressed in the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Scientific Integrity and has established its Regulation for Scientific Integrity at UM. This complies with the overarching UM Integrity Code of Conduct. 

The procedure for questions or complaints

You can talk with the confidential advisor about matters related to scientific integrity. For example, about plagiarism and the fabrication of research data. In case of questions or complaints concerning scientific integrity, the confidential advisors on scientific integrity are the primary contact persons. They will try to mediate the complaint or reach a solution. If this is not possible, they will guide the complainant in filing the complaint with the UM Committee on Scientific Integrity. PhD candidates who have questions or complaints concerning scientific integrity can also contact the confidential advisor at their faculty, before contacting the UM advisors on scientific integrity. 

Contact 
Within UM, Professor Herman Kingma, Dr Ree Meertens and Professor Sophie Vanhoonacker-Kormoss act as confidential advisors on scientific integrity. You can contact the confidential advisors by email at vertrouwenspersoonwi@maastrichtuniversity.nl or call the secretary to the confidential advisors, Ellen van Roosmalen-Aarts at +31 (0)43 388 1977.

Committee for Scientific Integrity

The Committee for Scientific Integrity advises the Executive Board on complaints filed regarding scientific integrity. The Regulation for Scientific Integrity defines what constitutes a violation of scientific integrity and the procedure for submitting a complaint. 

The independent committee comprises Professor Dr Bruno de Witte (chair), Professor Dr Marleen de Baak, Dr Sjaak Koenis, Professor Dr G.J. Dinant and Professor Dr Madelon Peters. A secretary supports the committee.

If the Committee for Scientific Integrity issues an advisory opinion following the substantive handling of a complaint, this opinion will be published in anonymised form on the website of the Universities of the Netherlands (in Dutch) after the Executive Board has made its final decision in the relevant complaints procedure.

Submitting a complaint

Complaints must include the following: 

  • A clear description in writing of the (alleged) violation of scientific integrity by one or more specified employees of UM. 
  • Written or other types of evidence related to this. 
  • The complainant’s name, job title and contact details. 
  • The complainant’s signature and date. 

Do you want to file a complaint? Download the complaint form here. 

Confidential advisors for Ph.D. candidates

In addition to the confidential advisors and committee for scientific integrity, each faculty has appointed one or more confidential advisors for Ph.D. candidates. The confidential advisors can advise Ph.D. candidates on a wide range of issues, problems and conflicts, including but not limited to scientific integrity. The advisors are: 

Find more information on scientific integrity on the website of The Association of Universities in the Netherlands and the website of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. 
 
  Go to Confidential advisor for employees (intranet) 
  Go to ombudsperson (intranet) 

Ancillary activities

At UM, there are regulations regarding the ancillary activities of UM professors and other staff members. Article 1.14 of the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities stipulates that all university staff members are obliged to report their ancillary activities. Additionally, UM has its own regulations regarding ancillary activities.  

The Minister of Education has made agreements about the transparency of ancillary activities of professors. All of a professor’s ancillary activities can be found on their profile page. Each professor is responsible for keeping this information up to date. Every university, including UM, publishes the ancillary activities of professors in one overview. The ancillary activities are discussed during the annual assessment interviews.  

As an employee, read more about reporting ancillary activities on the UM intranet.