“Ombuds Committee for Research Integrity”: Central Point of Contact with a New Legal Status and a New Title
The body formerly known as the “German Research Ombudsman” has been transformed into a registered association and will receive institutional funding in the future following a resolution passed by the German Federal Parliament / “Joint commitment on the part of the research community”
For 25 years now, the German research system has provided a central point of contact to provide independent consultation on matters of good research practice and research integrity. In the future, this body will operate under a new name and on a new institutional and financial basis.
The DFG Senate established the “DFG Ombudsman” as long ago as 1999: it was the first advisory body to be available to anyone associated with the German research system, regardless of whether they were in receipt of funding from the DFG or not. This was renamed the “German Research Ombudsman” in 2010 so as to distinguish the body and its procedures more clearly from the DFG's own procedure for investigating allegations of scientific misconduct where DFG funding was involved or there was some other link to the DFG.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of this independent advisory service, the “German Research Ombudsman” is now to be replaced by the “Ombuds Committee for Research Integrity in Germany”. The principal change is that the Ombuds Committee now has the legal status of a registered association, whose members are drawn from the institutions of the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany. The Committee is chaired by the Secretary General of the DFG, Dr. Heide Ahrens, while the Secretary General of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), Dr. Jens-Peter Gaul, is also a member of the board.
“The establishment of the Ombuds Committee as an association by the Alliance organisations is a joint commitment on the part of the research community that reflects the importance attached to research integrity and to the work of an independent body that offers consultation and support to all researchers and research institutions in this key area,” said Ahrens at a meeting of the DFG’s Joint Committee. “This will provide an important impetus for the ombuds system and thus for self-regulation in science and the humanities.”
Funding of the Ombuds Committee will be restructured in the future, too. Up to now, financing was temporary and took the form of funding granted to the university of the respective spokesperson of the body. Following a resolution passed by the German Federal Parliament's budget committee, the body can now receive institutional funding from the DFG. According to this resolution, the objective is to “take account of the long-term role of the research Ombudsman Committee and thereby clearly emphasise the importance of good research practice and research integrity as a fundamental requirement for Germany as a centre of excellent research”.
On this basis, the DFG’s Joint Committee has now adopted an economic plan for the funding of the Ombuds Committee for the first time, making the latter one of the so-called central research facilities that receive institutional funding from the DFG, in the same way as the EU Liaison Office of the German Research Organisations (KoWi) and the German research vessels.
Like its predecessor, the Ombuds Committee is made up of at least four researchers with a proven track record in the field of good research practice who represent the disciplines of the life sciences, natural sciences, engineering sciences, and social sciences and humanities, and cover the full spectrum of scientific working methods. The Committee is supported by a head office that is now permanently based in Berlin and publishes an annual report.
Further Information
For full details, see the DFG website at:
and the Ombuds Committee’s own website at:
On the subject of “Good Research Practice”, see also:
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