Code of Ethics

Research ethics customs and responsibilities vary from discipline to discipline. Conducting exemplary research depends on knowing the ground rules just as it does on the research process itself and the faculty mentor relationship. Some research conventions are much the same regardless of one’s field. Others can be very different, depending on whether you’re a computer scientist, historian, or biologist. Using the Internet, you can find the code for your discipline and explore codes for related fields with which you may interact professionally.

Ethics Resources

Maintained by universities in the United States and Canada, these resources will lead you to many of the relevant codes of ethics.

American Statistical Association

Intended to help statistics practitioners make decisions ethically.

Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science

Ethical codes and guidelines for engineering, technical, computer, and physical sciences; access
to life sciences and health care codes.

Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology

More than 850 codes of ethics for professional societies, corporations, government, and
academia; full range of disciplines; index.

Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia

Codes of professional ethics for disciplines ranging from anthropology to marketing to social
work; includes both American and international codes.