European Association of Science Editors - 2009 Conference: Integrity in Science Communication

2009 Conference: Integrity in Science Communication

The 2009 EASE Conference, was held in Pisa, Italy on 16-19 September 2009. It picked up the theme of the first World Conference on Research Integrity, which was held in Lisbon, Portugal on 16-19 September 2007. The first World Conference was a joint initiative of the European Science Foundation and the United States Office of Research Integrity; it provided a forum for discussion of strategies for harmonizing research misconduct policies and for promoting responsible research conduct. The 2009 EASE Conference explored these themes from the viewpoint of people involved with scientific journal editing and publishing.

Editors strive to ensure that the scientific research presented is correct, complete, accessible, retrievable and durable, i.e. to guarantee the physical integrity of the data. There is also a moral aspect to science communication, where editors have possibly a more difficult role to play, monitoring such aspects as conflict of interest, gender bias and guest authorship. The aim of the 2009 EASE Conference was to provide guidance to editors on ways in which they can monitor the physical and moral integrity of scientific communications passing through their hands, what to look out for and where they can turn for further advice. A draft version of the EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles was presented and discussed in Pisa.