Good Research Practice

In Germany, academic freedom with respect to research, teaching and study is guaranteed by the constitution. These freedoms are therefore bound to the fundamental values of the constitution of Europa-Universität Flensburg.

Good research practice adheres to the principles of observing professional standards, documenting results, consistently challenging one’s own findings, and maintaining strict honesty about contributions from partners, competitors and predecessors. The hallmarks of good research practice are responsibility, honesty and transparency, with a special emphasis on securing, saving and storing primary data, complying with ethical standards, and promoting early-stage researchers.

In accordance with a recommendation of the DFG Commission on Self-Regulation in Science and Research (DFG white paper 2013), universities and research facilities should appoint independent ombudspersons to whom their members can turn regarding matters of good research practice.
The independent ombudsperson at Europa-Universität Flensburg is Prof. Dr. Johanna Fay. On November 27, 2024, the Senate elected Prof. Johanna Fay for a term of office of three years with effect from December 1, 2024.

Please contact the ombudsperson in confidence for all questions regarding 'Good Research Practice' and suspected academic misconduct. All questions, uncertainties and conflict issues such as authorship, data protection and data ownership, plagiarism, abuse of power in research dependency relationships, etc. will be examined in detail and, if necessary, a legally secure clarification will be brought about (especially regarding data protection, the ombudspersons can only provide a preliminary clarification). In the second instance, the "Commission for Good Research Practice" is consulted by the ombudsperson in cases of doubt.

Ombudspersons

Ombudsperson for upholding the rules of good research practice:

Substitute Ombudspersons (In case of absence or bias of Johanna Fay):

The ombudspersons can also be contacted by researchers from the European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI).

Members of the EUF Commission for Good Research Practice

  • Prof. Dr. Peter Heering, Faculty I
  • Prof. Dr. Soleig Chilla, Faculty II
  • Prof. Dr. Andrea Kleeberg-Niepage, Faculty III

The members of the Commission were elected by the Senate of the Europa-Universität Flensburg on 31.05.2023 in accordance with the Statutes for a period of three years with the term of office commencing on 01.06.2023.

Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Software

The university has a license the plagiarism detection software Turnitin. The software is available free of charge to all EUF departments.

Step-by-step usage instructions can be found on Turnitin Guides and from within the software itself.

Please register (https://www.uni-flensburg.de/turnitin) via Shibboleth using your existing network access data. You can then upload documents, perform similarity checks, identify AI-generated texts and view reports.

For technical questions, contact turnitin-PleaseRemoveIncludingDashes-@uni-flensburg.de