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Ethics in Astronomy

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Ethics in Astronomy Ethics in astronomy Markus Wi2kowski Ethics • First systemacally defined by Aristotle as a separate philosophical field. Part of prac6cal philosophy, including ethics, economy, poli6cs. • The subject of ethics is moral human ac6ng and reasoning, i.e. what makes ac6ng a morally good ac6ng? • The procedure is systemac, results should be jus6fied and intersubjec6ve • Not moralizing, not influenced by ideologies Categories: descrip6ve / normave • Descrip6ve: which ac6ng is common in a group or a society, which ac6ng is generally accepted as moral ac6ng? Who is widely accepted as a moral exemplar, how does this person act? • Normave: Prescrip6ve. Seng up of rules. How shall ac6ng be? Higher risk to be subjec6ve, influenced by a certain ideology. Criteria need to be jus6fiable, verifiable, need possibility to Ques6on them • It is not self-evident that there is any generally accepted norm. Goodwill is reQuired. Categories: descrip6ve / normave • Descripve: which ac6ng is common in a group or a society, which ac6ng is generally accepted as moral ac6ng? Who is widely accepted as a moral exemplar, how does this person act? • Normave: Prescrip6ve. Seng up of rules. How shall ac6ng be? Higher risk to be subjec6ve, influenced by a certain ideology. Criteria need to be jus6fiable, verifiable, need possibility to Ques6on them • It is not self-evident that there is any generally accepted norm. Goodwill is reQuired. Professional ethics • Different professions have certain cultures, code of conduct, best prac6ces • Responsibility for the society • Reputaon of the profession • Certain values within the profession • In par6cular, research ethics reflects the moral grounds on which researchers do research, and their internal and external responsibility Astronomy • The oldest natural science • Very important for socie6es throughout human evolu6on by providing informaon on 6me, calendars, seasons, our place in the universe, etc.; Nowadays climate change (greenhouse effect), asteroid impact avoidance, exo-planets/exo-life • For a long 6me there was a close connec6on between astronomy, religion, art, magic (e.g. Stonehenge) • Modern astronomy is decoupled from such fields. Also people nowadays are more disconnected from the sky due to light pollu6on, spending most 6me in big ci6es and buildings, and modern jobs are disconnected from nature. • There is s6ll a big public interest in astronomy. • Object of interest is observed, not created/manipulated Astronomers/Working areas • Universi6es, research centers, observatories • Work part of their 6me on research • Have other du6es, e.g. teaching, instrument building, operaons & support • Serve as referees for papers, on 6me allocaon commi2ees, grant panels, selec6on commi2ees, mentors, write recommendaon le2ers, some have managerial du6es as employers, etc Which are, in your opinion, the most important 2-3 values for the professional work of an astronomer? Results (card techniQue), in approximate order of menonings • Honesty/ Objec6vity/ Integrity • Create new ideas for the community/ Provide knowledge to the public • Open-minded/ Creavity • Collaboraon • Cri6cal thinking • Neutrality/Fairness • Respect • Acknowledge help & sources • Reliability • Persistence • Empathy in outreach & teaching Small Poll from 2009 • Honesty. Respect the truth and publish full results. Transparency. Communicate to the public/be honest with the public. • Respect intellectual property. Respect ideas/ follow scien6fic method. • Flexibility/the ability to change one’s ideas. Imaginaon. Openness. Knowledge. • Appreciang others. Ability to work with others. Trying to treat colleagues and their work as oneself would want to be treated. Keep good tempered when very 6red. Help the young where you can. European Commission/ Ethics for researchers (FP 7) • Legal basis: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Ar6cle 13: “The arts and scien6fic research shall be free of constraint. Academic freedom shall be respected” • We have to act responsibly with this freedom, both internally and externally. In par6cular, we need to respect: – Art. 3: Right to the integrity of the person. – Art. 7: Respect for private and family life – Art. 8: Protec6on of personal data – Work environment/ internal rules EC: Ethics for Researchers (FP 7) • Data Protec6on and Privacy (health informaon, gene6c informaon, criminal records, financial informaon, travel records, informaon on religious beliefs and sexual orientaon or ethnic iden6ficaon records) • Informed consent (adeQuate informaon, voluntariness, competence) • Research on human embryo’s and foetuses • Dual use (research that could be misused for criminal or terrorist purposes) • Animal research • Research involving developing countries (beneficial to all stakeholders, comply with relevant European legislaon, naonal legislaon and with the relevant accepted internaonal standards; if local resources are used, this should be adeQuately compensated, poten6ally vulnerable populaons need to be able to provide genuine informed consent, relevant local and independent ethic approvals need to be provided) EC: Charter for researchers • Research freedom; limitaons to this freedom • Ethical principles (recognized ethical prac6ces) • Professional responsibility (relevant to society and does not duplicate research) • Professional atude (research environment, funding mechanisms, approvals) • Contractual and legal obligaons • Accountability (toward employer, funders, society) • Good prac6ce in research (safe, legislaon) • Disseminaon, exploitaon of results (research is fruijul, results exploited commercially, or made accessible to the public) • Public engagement (can be understood by non-specialists) • Relaon with supervisors • Supervision and managerial du6es (supervisors, mentors, career advisors, leaders, project coordinators, managers, science communicstors) • Con6nuing professional development EC: ReQuirements for Employers • Recogni6on of the profession • Non-discriminaon • Research environment • Working condi6ons • Stability and permanence of employment • Funding and salaries • Gender balance • Career development • Value of mobility • Access to research training and con6nuous development • Access to career advice • Intellectual property rights • Co-authorship • Supervision • Teaching • Evaluaon/appraisal systems • Complaints/appeals • Par6cipaon in decision-making bodies • Recruitment EC: Recruitment of researchers • Selecon • Transparency • Judging merit • Variaons in the chronological order of CVs • Recogni6on of mobility experience • Recogni6on of Qualificaons • Seniority • Postdoctoral appointments Which are, in your opinion, ethical issues that typically occur in the professional life of an astronomer? Results (brainstorming) • Selec6on of data • Intrinsic biases in panels/ peer-review processes • Hierarchical problems • Not acknowledging work of others • Stealing of ideas • Referee process • Conflicts of interest • Publishing of results that are known to be wrong • Not publishing negave results • Copying mainstream ideas without cri6cal thinking • Plagiarism • Not giving back to society • Conferences in exo6c/remote locaons • Authorlists • Abuse of power • Lack of cultural or environmental appreciaon Small poll from 2009 • Providing and being given proper credit, especially to students. • Data manipulaon (inten6onally or uninten6onally) • Manipulaon of citaons • Abusing a referee process/use of confiden6al informaon • Abusing hierarchical or mentoring structure • Building observatories at culturally or ecologically sensi6ve places, or in poor countries • Following expensive projects that are risky and might not give results • Not improving the Quality of people’s lifes in the short & medium term • Balancing work & home life • Fair shared of publicaons/autorlist and fair access to data • Compe66on within the team for the best data or the best students • Marginalizing researchers that are lem out of big collaboraons Ethical standards in astronomy by Paul Kalas (Decadal Survey), 2009 • Authorship and publicaons (plagiarism, falsificaon, and fabricaon; publicaons are a key metric for scienfic success) • Data and the research record (failure to retain research data, refusing reasonable access to research data, misrepresen6ng speculaons as fact or releasing preliminary research results without sufficient data to allow cri6cal review, selec6ng and repor6ng data to improve the appearance of data or to increase its significance, suppressing negave data) • Environmental ethics Professional and ethical standards for the AAS journals • Ethics • Plagiarism and republicaon • A2ribu6on and citaon prac6ce • Conflicts of interest • Confiden6ality guidelines • Professional conduct and civility • Inves6gaon of misconduct allegaons The A&A policy concerning plagiarism and improper aribu6on • Plagiarism: reproducing text or other content from work wri2en by others without giving proper credit to the source of that content (also paraphrasing text) • Self-plagiarism (when authors cite text from their own previously published works) • Must cite the original reference and include text in Quotaon marks. Figures may only be reproduced with permission and must be cited in the figure cap6on. A brief discussion of previous results is usually more relevant than direct Quotaon • Should cite previously published papers that are directly relevant • Improper aribu6on: Deliberate refusal to cite prior, corroborang, or contradictory results Summary/ Discussion • Based on today’s Ques6ons & answers, we do agree on common values in astronomy and on common moral
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