Preamble: Objectives

At NITech we have made "Education", "Innovation" and "Contribution" the keywords for our education and research philosophy and objectives. We want to conduct research and development that can have a global impact, and we also want to nurture people who can become active on the world stage putting science and engineering to work for the good of humankind as well as taking due care of the environment. As an institution where research is carried out with the aim of knowledge creation, and knowing the importance of the free exchange of views in scientific research, we want our researchers to retain high ethical standards that make them fully cognizant of the significant impact that science and engineering research has on society, and fully aware of their responsibility as researchers in this field. These guidelines have been put together with the aim of ensuring a healthy environment for NITech's scientific research and of heightening the credibility and fairness of that scientific research. As well as indicating the ethical policies we expect of our teaching staff, technical lab staff, graduate students and undergraduate students and anyone who engages in research with us, these guidelines lay down the manner in which this institute will deal with any unethical research behavior.

Article 1: Definitions for Researcher Ethics

• 1. "Research" shall refer to all activities and results pertaining to research: applications for research plans, conduct of research, publication of research findings, and evaluation of research findings.
• 2. "Researcher Ethics" refers to standards of behavior regarding research that broadly conform with social norms, and is meant to prevent behavior that deviates in a noticeable way from such social norms, including fabrication falsification, plagiarism, of research, as laid down in Articles 2 to 7 of these Guidelines.

Article 2: Fairness in Application for Research Funding and Research Projects; Appropriate Use of Expenses

• 1. Researchers must not engage in fabrication or falsification of their research achievements on their application documents, e.g. by falsely reporting the number of their publications and/or publication content, or including papers only submitted for publication (and not necessarily pending) in their lists of publications, etc.
• 2. Researchers must not make applications for research plans that deceive evaluators by false information or rhetoric, giving exaggerated summaries that do not bear any resemblance to actual research findings.
• 3. Research expenses for grants for scientific research expenses etc. should be spent observing rules and regulations as laid down e.g., in the Act on Regulation of Execution of Budget Pertaining to Subsidies, etc. and Provisions for Utilization of Scientific Research Grants, and should not be spent on objectives other than those specified in the research plans for which application was made.

Article 3: Safety Management in the Laboratories

• 1. When using equipment, facilities and chemicals for experiments, all the relevant provisions regarding their handling and internal rules must be observed. As well as ensuring the researcher's own health and safety with all the knowledge at his or her command, those in positions of instruction must take due care to educate the people that they are teaching in these matters.
• 2. Spillages that occur in the course of experimentation, and chemicals and materials that have been used in the experiments, must be disposed of in a manner that does not cause any harm to the natural environment.
• 3. Experiments such as those that use animals, or that involve genetic engineering, should be carried out observing all relevant laws and regulations.

Article 4: Appropriate Handling of Information and Data

• 1. Regarding the storage of materials, information and data collected for the purposes of research, due consideration must be given to their management and measures taken to prevent loss, omission, and falsification, etc.
• 2. Original materials, information and data used in the publication of research findings must be stored for the appropriate amount of time.
• 3. In cases where research has been carried out using submission of information and data relating to the actions of individual people and personal mental/physical matters, procedures must be taken to obtain informed consent, and clear explanation given of methods and objectives to information suppliers, so that clear consent can be obtained.
• 4. Personal information and data collected for the purposes of research must be handled appropriately exercising due consideration so that individuals may not be identified, in full observation of privacy protection.

Article 5: Appropriate Implementation of Funded Research

• 1. Every effort must be made in funded research and collaborative research to avoid the development of any circumstance that poses harms/offends the mutual interests of the sponsor or partner.
• 2. Strict duty of confidentiality must be observed with regard to any secret information gained in the course of funded research or collaborative research work.

Article 6: Ethics Compliance Regarding Research Findings Publications

• 1. In any publication, fabrication involving the creation of non-existent data, falsification involved in processing or forgery of data for the purposes of research, or plagiarism involving the use of the research findings and data of another researcher without due reference is prohibited.
• 2. Before publication, due care must be taken to gain a thorough acquaintance in preceding research, and any such research with relevance for the research in hand must be appropriately referenced.
• 3. Researchers must not submit manuscripts of the same paper reporting the same research findings to several academic journals.
• 4. Joint authors of articles must jointly bear accountability and responsibility for their findings, as person who have contributed jointly to the research.
• 5. Every effort must be made to respect the rights of co-authors for publications and co-researchers in collaborative research projects, and the clear agreement of co-authors and co-researchers must be obtained regarding use of research findings.
• 6. When presenting research findings to the mass media etc., this must be conducted having taken the appropriate procedures based on clearly defined research findings.

Article 7: Fair Evaluation

• 1. Persons involved in the evaluation of grants and funding for research in this Institute and other institutions and in evaluation of possible participation in academic conferences and submissions for research journals, must carry out fair evaluations that accord with evaluation criteria and ordinances, without making any pre-judgment of the person who is to receive such evaluation.
• 2. There must be no unfair use of the information gained in the course of evaluations, such as that pertaining to another's publication record, and no inappropriate 'leaking' of this information.

Enacted February 10, 2006