To meet this goal, the USC and its research staff have a Code of Good Research Practices that includes the basic ethical principles of research activity (freedom, commitment, rigour, honesty, integrity, respect and responsibility) and establishes the rules of conduct that govern the organisation of research, its planning and execution, the storage and custody of data and the publication of results.
The Code also outlines the ethical principles governing the relations of research staff with funding entities, how to deal with conflicts of interest, and the channels established for regulating conflicts.
The University of Santiago de Compostela also has a Bioethics Committee that supervises critical aspects of research, such as human and animal studies.
The USC Governing Council approved the Code of Good Research Practices (CBPI in Spanish) of this university in September 2018, after a participatory process in which the Bioethics Committee, R&D Activities Committee, USC General Secretary’s Office and the Research Committee of the Governing Council itself took part.
USC understands that integrity in research implies the personal adherence by each researcher to ethical principles and professional standards based on rigour, honesty and respect for the rules. Therefore, it understands that the USC's CDPI is, above all, an instrument to help understand what responsibility means whilst carrying out research, which also acts as a general self-regulatory framework for the scientific community...
The Bioethics Committee of the University of Santiago de Compostela aims to ensure the welfare of animals used in teaching and experimentation, as well as to assess the ethical aspects of all scientific research carried out at USC, especially that involving animal experimentation, biomedical studies in humans or with samples of human origin, and the use of biological agents or genetically modified organisms, in accordance with current legislation.
Established in 2003, the USC Bioethics Committee is governed by a Regulation approved by the University's Governing Council in February 2011, which governs its mission, composition and duties.