BioData.pt is committed to uphold the highest standards of Scientific Integrity and Ethics in the provision of data analysis, data management, data hosting, and computing services to the research community and industries
BioData.pt’s Scientific Integrity Policy is based on the paired principles of honesty & clarity, correctness & openness, and respect & acknowledgement.
Honesty & clarity are essential for how BioData.pt collaborates with partners and clients, and how BioData.pt members conduct research and provide services. This includes honesty in estimating the cost of a service and in discussing and selecting the methodology to execute it, and accuracy in representing its results. It also includes transparent terms-of-service documents that stipulate what clients can expect from the various BioData.pt services and what is expected from them, as well as clear descriptions of how the services were carried out and/or the results thereof, in order to ensure reproducibility. BioData.pt endeavours not to misrepresent, falsify or fabricate any information whatsoever in the course of its activities. It also endeavours not to withhold any relevant information pertaining to the performed service, save information that is proprietary and of which the client was notified a priori.
Correctness & openness are essential to how BioData.pt conducts its activities. BioData.pt team members do their jobs objectively, using the most appropriate methodology, and to the best of their abilities. They are open to differing opinions on the use of methodologies as an integral part of the collaboration process, and may discuss such alternatives with the client, at their discretion, if it is unclear which is the optimal methodology to pursue.
Respect & acknowledgement are essential for how BioData.pt treats the intellectual property of its partners. BioData.pt adheres to the view of Open Science, a key component of which is acknowledging the intellectual property and/or scientific contributions. Consequently, crediting data providers with ownership of the data hosted by BioData.pt and acknowledging all contributions to BioData.pt’s services are paramount for the infrastructure. Furthermore, BioData.pt respects the privacy needs of its partners and clients, and vows not to disclose either data or results to third parties without explicit prior agreement. With regard to ethics concerns, BioData.pt endeavours to avoid financial conflicts of interest and ensure impartiality in the access to and performance of its services. When contracted to perform services that involve sensitive data, such as human medical or personal data, BioData.pt will ensure that all applicable ethical and data privacy principles are safeguarded and may refuse the service, at its discretion, if there are evidences of ethical or data privacy violations in the data it receives or in how that data was obtained.
The members of the BioData.pt consortium providing services abide by the ethical and integrity principles defined by their institutional ethics committees. Suspicions of ethical misconduct should be reported to the ethics committee of the institutions providing the service.