Code of conduct
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Scientific integrity is vital for success in science. We all have a responsibility to the lab, to our funders (who include charities), the universities we are within and the scientific community we are part of to always maintain the highest standards of scientific integrity, accuracy and honesty.
There is never an excuse to fabricate, or misrepresent data. If you are tempted to, or feel pressure to, please talk to Simon and he will ensure your concerns are addressed in a way that maintains the highest levels of data. If you have concerns about any practices you see in the lab please contact Simon and let him know. If you would feel more comfortable talking to the University of Sussex's Research Governance Officer. You will never be punished for doing this, as we encourage taking actions to maximise the quality and integrity of our research.
Mistakes happen, but it is all of our responsibility to make sure that all work coming out of the lab is free from mistakes. Mistakes, even unintentional errors due to rushing or lack of attention to detail, can be extremely damaging to the lab, its members and the people we are trying to help with our research. It is never too late to correct an error, and always better to correct it than let it go. Even if a paper is accepted and final proofs are being reviewed, errors must be brought to Simon's attention as fixing them at this stage is far better than allowing erroneous results or conclusions to be forever associated with our work. In addition to double-checking your own work, we will regularly double-check each other's work. This is a constructive process to help each other and the lab produce the highest quality work. Don't worry about mistakes found during these processes, we want to find them and this helps us feel more confident in our work.
By being in the lab you are committed to the University of Sussex Research Ethics and Standards policies. Please familiarise yourself with the below and refer to them if you are ever unsure of our policies.
If you gave someone else your raw data, they should be able to reproduce your results exactly. This is critical, because if they can’t reproduce your results, it suggests that one (or both) of you has made errors in the analysis, and the results can’t be trusted. Reproducible research is an essential part of science, and an expectation for all projects in the lab. For results to be reproducible, the analysis pipeline must be organized and well documented. To meet these goals, you should take extensive notes on each step of your analysis pipeline. This means writing down how you did things every step of the way (and the order that you did things), from any pre-processing of the data, to running models, to statistical tests (including in analysis scripts, which should always be commented clearly so that every step is understandable by an outsider). The best way to do this is through notebooks (usually iPython notebooks or iJulia notebooks) which must be placed onto the repository until publications are accepted. Upon acceptance of publication the appropriate code for analysis of results must be made available in a new public repository within the lab's . If for some reason you cannot document your work in progress through an appropriate code notebook then please talk to Simon and an alternative will be established.
The Mitchell is an environment that must be free of harassment and discrimination. All lab members are expected to abide by the University of Sussex policies on discrimination and harassment, which you can read about . We will not tolerate any verbal or physical harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We will not tolerate intimidation, stalking, following, unwanted photography or video recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome attention. Issues must be reported in line with the University of Sussex policy and if there is anything the lab can do to make the work environment better please let Simon know.