Code of Ethics for Research Scholars
Academic Freedom:
It is the freedom to teach, study and pursue knowledge and research without unreasonable interference or restriction from law, institutional regulations or public pressure. Its basic elements include the freedom of scholars to inquire into any subject that evokes intellectual concern, to present findings, to publish data and conclusions without control or censorship and to teach in the manner they consider professionally appropriate.
Principles and Values of Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is defined in terms of the commitment to the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, legality and dissemination.
Misconduct in Academic Research:
This implies (and is not limited to) fabrication, falsification, plagiarism or deception in proposing, carrying out or reporting results of research and deliberate, dangerous or negligent deviations from accepted practice in carrying out research. It includes failure to follow an agreed protocol if and when this failure results in unreasonable risk or harm to persons, the environment, and when it facilitates misconduct in research by collusion in, or concealment of, such actions by others. Misconduct also includes any plan or attempt to do any of these things. It does not include honest error or honest differences in interpretation or judgment in evaluating research methods or results, or misconduct unrelated to research processes
Misconduct includes (and is not limited to) the following
acts:
Plagiarism:
The deliberate copying of ideas, text, data or other work (or any combination thereof) without due permission and acknowledgement.
Piracy:
The deliberate exploitation of ideas from others without
proper acknowledgement.
Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights:
Failure to observe legal norms regarding copyright and the moral rights of authors.
Abuse of Research Resources:
Failure to observe the terms and conditions of institutionally licensed research resources.
Defamation:
Failure to observe relevant legal norms governing libel and
slander. Misinterpretation:
The deliberate attempt to represent falsely or unfairly the ideas or work of others, whether or not for personal gain or enhancement.
Personation:
The situation where someone other than the person who has submitted any academic work has prepared (parts of) the work.
Fabrication and Fraud:
The falsification or invention of qualifications, data, information or citations in any formal academic exercise.
Sabotage:
Acting to prevent others from completing their work. This includes stealing or cutting pages out of library books or otherwise damaging them; or wilfully disrupting the experiments of others; or endangering institutional access to licensed research resources by wilfully failing to observe their terms and conditions.
Professorial Misconduct:
Professorial acts that are arbitrary, biased or exploitative. Denying access to information or material: To deny others access arbitrarily to scholarly resources or to deliberately and groundlessly impede their progress.
Misconduct in Formal Examinations:
This includes having access, or attempting to gain access during an examination, to any books, memoranda, notes, unauthorised electronic devices or any other material, except such as may have been supplied by the invigilator or authorised by the Academic Department. It also includes aiding or attempting to aid another candidate or obtaining or attempting to obtain aid from another candidate or any other communication and conversations that could have an impact on the examination results. Identifying levels of violations of good academic practice: Two levels of violations of good academic practice can be distinguished.
1. Minor Violations:
Minor violations may occur because of inexperience or lack of knowledge of the principles of academic integrity and are often characterised by the absence of dishonest intent on the part of the person committing the violation.
2. Major Violations:
Major violations are breaches of academic integrity that are more serious in nature or that affect a more significant aspect or portion of the academic work compared with minor violations
Note:
Without prejudice to the right and duty of Departments to address and assess issues of plagiarism in the course of the regular assessment of a paper presented by a researcher, any person may submit a complaint about academic misconduct to the Principal. Such complaints need to be supported by sufficient evidence. The Principal will decide whether the allegation is serious enough to warrant an investigation. The Librarian has the right to investigate any suspected abuseof institutionally licensed research resources and to suspend any user from continued access to all resources, digital or paper, pending a full investigation.
