The perks of a quality system in academia

The research group of Prof Kas at the University of Groningen was one of the first research units that implemented the EQIPD Quality System and being awarded the EQIPD Certificate.
In this new paper, María Arroyo-Araujo and Martien Kas describe and explain the advantages of having implemented the EQIPD Quality System for preclinical research – and importantly also provide a time estimate for completing all of the EQIPD Core Requirements.
The authors explain that implementing a QS such as EQIPD’s in academia can promote the development of habits that boost the quality of executing and reporting preclinical research and provide examples illustrating the use of the EQIPD QS as a self-reflection tool: By following the step-by-step approach of the QS the authors identified unintended gaps in the training program: Whereas MSc and PhD students have a mandatory course addressing research integrity topics, there is no such course for postdocs. This was then easily solved by making the relevant university guidelines more easily accessible for all lab members to be properly informed.
The authors hope that this empirical report will encourage fellow researchers to change the generally accepted way studies are usually conducted and reported so more meaningful results can be achieved in preclinical sciences.

Read the full paper HERE.