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Welcoming codes of conduct

June 1, 2023

ChemistryWorld

Victoria Atkinson

"The code of conduct is a staple of HR documentation. But in labs – filled with safety notices, instruction manuals and standard procedures – guidelines on the less practical aspects of research work are often curiously absent. Relying on assumed behavioural rules can be risky and many PIs are now choosing to explicitly outline their expectations, values and group procedures in public documents online.

For Lauren McKee, a glycoscientist at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, creating and sharing her personal philosophy was a proactive and informal way to instigate a positive change within her group. ‘We call it the welcome document rather than the code of conduct so people have a positive mindset when they read it,’ she says. ‘It’s not prescriptive, but suggestive and encouraging. You won’t get into trouble if you don’t behave this way but it’ll be a great workplace if you do!’"

Too official to be effective: An empirical examination of unofficial information channel and continued use of retracted articles

September 2023

Research Policy

Volume 52, Issue 7

Haifeng Xu, Yi Ding, Cheng Zhang, Bernard C.Y. Tan

Abstract

"Due to the inadequacy of official notices in disseminating retraction information, a significant proportion of retracted articles continue to be cited in the post-retraction period. There are adverse consequences of citing such questionable articles. This study extends the literature on official versus unofficial information channels by examining three key roles that unofficial information channels can play in disseminating retraction information (i.e., providing broader reach for information dissemination, packaging information from different sources, and creating new information) as well as the effects of these roles."