Research Ethics

The DFG Code of Conduct defines the most important principles governing the ethical framework for research in Germany in Guideline 10: "Researchers adopt a responsible approach to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of research. They comply with rights and obligations, particularly those arising from legal requirements and contracts with third parties, and where necessary seek approvals and ethics statements and present these when required. With regard to research projects, the potential consequences of the research should be evaluated in detail and the ethical aspects should be assessed." These principles are also taken into account in the OVGU's statutes for ensuring good scientific practice (§10). A first point of contact with helpful information on practical implementation in various disciplines is the Research Integrity Information Portal accompanying the DFG Code of Conduct.

Research Ethics Committee of the OVGU

The World Medical Association (WMA) has formulated ethical principles for medical research involving human participants in the Declaration of Helsinki (current version from 2024). The declaration is generally regarded as the ethical standard for physicians conducting medical research. The World Medical Association also holds that all other researchers who conduct medical research involving human subjects in the broadest sense, adopt these principles.

Scientists at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg can contact the OVGU Ethics Committee, which is based at the Faculty of Medicine and University Medicine Magdeburg A.ö.R., if they have any questions about ethical aspects of their research on and with humans (including biological material and personal data).

This committee also acts at the request of members of other faculties of the university.

Support and advice  is also available from the Coordination Centre for Clinical Studies (KKS) of the Faculty of Medicine before submitting study-related documents to the Ethics Committee. The KKS provides advice and support in the preparation of study protocols and information and consent forms, taking into account the currently valid data protection regulations.

Committee for Ethics in Security-Related Research

Research and science take place in the field of tension between academic freedom and academic responsibility. In order to strengthen the responsibility of our scientists for their research and their research results and to raise awareness of this, a Committee for Ethics in Security-Relevant Research (KEF) was established at OVGU. The KEF is based on the principles of the Joint Committee on the Handling of Security-Relevant Research of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Particularly in the case of security-relevant research that gives cause for concern, there is a special need for early interdisciplinary consideration of the benefits and potential risks as well as appropriate advice and assessment by a local committee for the ethics of security-relevant research.

The KEF provides assistance to researchers by advising and assessing ethical and legal aspects of security-relevant issues if significant security-relevant risks to human dignity, life, health, freedom, property, the environment or peaceful coexistence are associated with a research project. Contact with the KEF is made via the Vice-Rectorate for Research, Technology and Equal Opportunities.

Members of the KEF Steering Committee