Violations of good research practices breach the principles of research integrity. They damage the quality and credibility of research and undermine research collaboration and authorship.

These actions may also be against the law, in which case they are investigated also in official or judicial procedures. Differences of opinion and disagreements over theories, methods or interpretations of results are part of academic discourse and generally not RI violations.

An RI violation meets one of the following criteria:

In Europe, there are several different national approaches available for investigating violations of research integrity. There are also countries which still do not have any national framework. There are basically two courses of action in determining scientific misconduct, investigating allegations and imposing sanctions: a model based on legislation and a self-regulation model by the scientific community.

Annual reports of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK. All files are in PDF-format.

Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK – office term 1.2.2022–31.1.2025

Chair

Professor Riitta Keiski, University of Oulu

Vice Chair

Here you will find information on other national advisory boards on research ethics in Finland and a list of international actors in the field of research ethics and research integrity.

The Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK has created a network of Research Integrity Advisers. Since the start of 2017, TENK has trained more than 100 advisers in more than 60 research organisations to provide low-threshold personal advice on research integrity. The system was founded on a need to reinforce awareness of responsible conduct of research among the increasingly international research community in Finland.

Alleged violations of research integrity are always investigated in the organisation where the suspected violation occurred or where the suspected researcher acted when it occurred. After the suspicion has first been addressed in the organisation's process of handling alleged violations of research integrity, i.e. the RI process, the parties may request a statement on the matter from the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK.

Ethical review in Finland depends on whether the research is medical or in the scope of human sciences.

Medical research

The Medical Research Act and Decree (488/1999) regulate medical research involving human beings.

The roots of the State Award for Public Information stretch back to 1865, when the Senate decided to grant Finland’s first state awards. At the initiative of Senator J. V. Snellman, the decision was taken to grant three literary awards: non-fiction, fiction and popular publications.