Towards a Responsible Research Climate

The research climate is thought to play a key role in fostering integrity in research. The organisational climate can be defined as “the shared meaning organisational members attach to the events, policies, practices, and procedures they experience and the behaviours they see being rewarded, supported, and expected.” (p. 115). To understand the organisational research climate in Amsterdam for integrity, we used the Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SOURCE). The results of 1298 researchers (response rate: 17%) indicated that the research climate is perceived differently depending on one’s academic rank and disciplinary field. This prompted questions on how to attain a responsible research climate, which barriers may be standing in the way of attaining a responsible research climate, and which interventions could alleviate these barriers. We discussed these questions in 12 focus groups among academic researchers in Amsterdam. The results of these discussions show that a responsible research climate is characterised by fair evaluation, openness about methodology and data, but also among colleagues. To get closer to this responsible research climate, focus group participants discussed interventions such as trainings for PhD supervisors.