Ethical Best Practice
Compliance & Best Practice Information
This section contains useful resource documents and publications concerned with research ethics.
National Legislation
- (opens in a new window)European Convention on Human Rights (Ireland)
- (opens in a new window)Data Protection Act 1988 (Ireland)
- (opens in a new window)Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003 (Ireland)
- (opens in a new window)Data Protection General Data Protection Regulation: information on the GDPR which came into force on May 25th 2018 replacing the existing data protection framework under the EU Data Protection Directive.
International Law & Ethical Best Practice
- (opens in a new window)Nuremberg Code (1947)
- (opens in a new window)Declaration of Helsinki (WMA, last amended Oct 2013)
- (opens in a new window)Belmont Report (USA, 1979)
- (opens in a new window)Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UNESCO, 2006)
- (opens in a new window)European Convention on Human Rights (1953)
- (opens in a new window)European Charter for Researchers
- (opens in a new window)WHO Standards and Operational Guidance for Ethics Review of Health-Related Research with Human Participants (2011)
- (opens in a new window)Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Specific Research Ethics Areas
- (opens in a new window)International Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC) Project (website which helps to understand, plan and conduct ethical research involving children and young people in any geographical, social, cultural or methodological context)
- E(opens in a new window)thical Guidance for Research with People with Disabilities (NDA, 2009)
- (opens in a new window)Toolkit For Care Home Research (UK ENRICH - Enabling Research in Care Homes)
- (opens in a new window)Ethical Guidance for Oral History Research (UK Oral History Society website)
- (opens in a new window)Research Ethics in Ethnography / Anthropology (European Commission Guide)
- (opens in a new window)Research on refugees, asylum seekers & migrants (European Commission Guidance Note)
- (opens in a new window)EU Code of Ethics for Socio-Economic Research (respectproject.org)
Research Integrity Resources
- (opens in a new window)UCD Library Guide on Academic Integrity (Referencing, Citation, and Avoiding Plagiarism)
- (opens in a new window)IUA National Policy Statement on Ensuring Research Integrity in Ireland
- (opens in a new window)The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (Revised Edition 2023) - a framework for self-regulation across all scientific and scholarly disciplines and for all research settings published by the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) and supported by the European Commission as the required standard of research integrity for projects funded by Horizon 2020
- (opens in a new window)UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) - UKRIO is an independent charity providing advice and support to the public, researchers and organisations to further good practice in academic, scientific and medical research.
Publication Ethics
- (opens in a new window)Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines
- (opens in a new window)How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers (COPE)
Ethics and Social Media in Research
- (opens in a new window)The Association of Internet Researchers
- (opens in a new window)Unicef Ethical Considerations When Using Social Media for Evidence Generation
- (opens in a new window)Social Media Research: A Guide to Ethics - University of Aberdeen
The Office of Research Ethics is not responsible for the content of these external site - if any of the inks do not work please let us know (opens in a new window)research.ethics@ucd.ie