By Iris Lechner
 
The field of research integrity is growing substantially. An increasing number of guidelines and initiatives to foster responsible research practices are being implemented worldwide.
 
Individual researchers however sometimes find it difficult to know which policies, codes and rules of good research practices apply to them in their specific context. In addition, surviving in academia is not easy, and short-cuts are still too often rewarded. To make research integrity information easily accessible to researchers, the European consortium ENTIRE developed the online platform The Embassy of Good Science. The platform can be found on www.embassy.science. Here, a wide range of information, resources, and tools can be found.
 
Uniquely, the platform is both for researchers, and made by researchers. The research community can easily search for and find relevant information to learn about good research practices relevant for their work. The Embassy contains short explanatory ‘theme pages’ which provide an introduction about specific research integrity topics in a way that is understandable for all researchers. A wide range of topics have already been covered, including plagiarism, authorship, the FAIR principles, p-hacking and conflict of interest.
 
The unique approach is made possible by using Semantic Media-Wiki which allows individual researchers to add and edit information. Theme pages are automatically linked to the relevant resources on the platform, including guidelines, cases and educational tools. For example, if you read a theme page on plagiarism, a case on plagiarism and online training is also shown on the same page. In this way, researchers can access all relevant information needed to navigate the complex web research integrity has become. Online training modules on specific research integrity topics will also be made available shortly aimed at increasing researchers’ knowledge of and commitment to research integrity in their everyday practice.
 
Interested in the platform? Check out this short video and go to www.embassy.science
 
The EQIPD project is also present on The Embassy of Good Science platform and summarized HERE.