Submit a complaint with the Practice Committee
Complaint Form:
If you want to make a report to the Practice Committee about suspicion of research misconduct or questionable research practices, please use the form below and attach the appendices on which you base your report.
Download:
Complaint form for filing complaints with the Practice Committee at the University of Copenhagen (Word).
- The form must be downloaded and filled out
- Relevant appendices must be attached
- Fill in the form and with appendices attached and submit it to the Practice Committee’s secretariat via the e-mail below.: praksisudvalget@adm.ku.dk
Specific terms for certain complaints:
For some complaints it can be necessary to submit further documentation.
Specifically on plagiarism
If the complaint concerns suspicions of plagiarism in particular, the scientific product must be attached, i.e. the text (e.g. a published article) claimed to contain plagiarized content.
In this text, highlight sections claimed to be plagiarized. Every highlight must be include a note indicating what source has been plagiarized. Both highlights and notes can be made using standard features of Acrobat Reader. Other tools can also be used, e.g. PDF Annotator, Bluefire Reader and GoodReader.
Likewise, you must attach the plagiarized text and highlight the places where the plagiarized text can be found in the scientific product.
Attach all texts relevant to the complaint in their entirety as PDF files and if possible with OCR functionality (optical character recognition).
If the complaint involves more than one case of plagiarism, it should contain precise information on each case.
Specifically on co-authoring and other credit
If the complaint of questionable research practices concerns lack of credit in a product (e.g. in an article) the product must be attached, i.e. the text (e.g. a published article) claimed lack credit.
If the complaint concerns refused co-authorship, please attach evidence that you have contributed substantially to the research that the product is based on.
If the complaint concerns a claim that you have not been appropriately acknowledged, e.g. under acknowledgement(s), please attach evidence that you have performed important work or made an intellectual contribution that has influenced the research. Please refer to section 4(1) in The Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.
To present the evidence necessary to prove lack of credit you may have to present emails showing the research project’s development and any potential contracts agreed upon by between you and other researchers.
Assesment of complaints
As one of its tasks the Practice Committee makes an assessment of whether the complaints received by the Practice Committee concerns questionable research practices or research misconduct.
- The Practice Committee examines the complaints and issue statements in cases of questionable research practices.
- Cases of research misconduct is forwarded by the Practice Committee to the Danish Board on Research Misconduct which is located under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science.
Questionable research practices or research misconduct?
The concept of questionable research practices means violation of generally accepted standards for responsible research practices, including the standards in The Danish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and other applicable institutional, national and international practices and guidelines for research integrity.
Research misconduct includes fabrication, falsification and plagiarism committed willfully or with gross negligence when planning, performing or reporting on research.
Contact the Practice Committee
Questions about the Practice Committee's work can be sent to praksisudvalget@adm.ku.dk