A student introduces his research products to a foreigner at a lab of the Hanoi University of Science and Technology in Hà Nội. Photo courtesy of the Hanoi University of Science and Technology

HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội University of Science and Technology has issued regulations on academic integrity, requiring all officials, civil servants, lecturers and students not to buy or sell research results in any form.

This is the first educational and research institution in the country to issue such regulations.

Specifically, the university requires all officials, civil servants, lecturers, students and affiliated units to respect the ideas of others and not to copy or transform the ideas of others into their own ideas, according to Decision 12160/QD-DHBK.

They must adhere to the principles of selection and assignment of scientific research tasks as prescribed by law and the university regulations. They will not be allowed to use approved topics or scientific and technological tasks to participate in selection or funding elsewhere.

Related parties must not use power, relationships or material resources to influence selection, leading to unhealthy competition, or to benefit themselves or others improperly in the process of conducting scientific research not in accordance with management regulations and scientific norms, it said.

Authors must not fabricate or falsify research objects, research data or scientific records. They are required to respect copyrights and author rights; comply with current laws on intellectual property ownership; accurately, clearly and transparently cite reference materials; and strictly adhere to the permitted citation ratios for each topic, task or field as prescribed.

Furthermore, officials, civil servants, lecturers and students must not obstruct or intervene in presenting complete and objective research results or affect the credibility of research results in general scientific publications. Trading research results will not be allowed in any form.

Officials of the university must list the institution as the Hà Nội University of Science and Technology in scientific publications. Officials who are master's students, doctoral students, or post-doctoral researchers at other domestic and international educational and training institutions can list both the Hà Nội University of Science and Technology and the institution where they are studying or conducting research.

The university also sets academic integrity requirements in research collaboration and training collaboration. Specifically, it required officials, civil servants, lecturers and students to respect and promote the spirit of academic integrity in all academic cooperation and collaboration activities. They must comply with regulations on intellectual property rights for academic products created by collaborative research activities according to agreements or contracts previously established by the parties; and not transfer ideas or research tasks registered after participating in agreements or contracts to partners or third parties without the permission of the university.

The university has established a scientific integrity advisory council, which advises the university’s director in assessing and evaluating the extent of violations of academic integrity.

Depending on the nature and extent of the violation, individuals who violate the regulations will be disciplined or transferred to competent authorities for administrative or criminal handling as prescribed by law and university regulations.

Individuals who violate academic integrity may also receive additional forms of punishment according to the specific regulations of each field. Academic products identified as violating academic integrity must be corrected or withdrawn according to the decision of the university. — VNS