No, LARI is not a research ethics committee, ethics review panel, or institutional review board. Thus, LARI does not conduct research ethics reviews. More information on which body is responsible for conducting ethics reviews at your organization and for the research you are performing is available on your institution's website. If you encounter difficulties finding the relevant information, feel free to contact us and we will do our best to provide you with the information and contacts you are looking for. While research ethics and research integrity overlap conceptually, they are governed somewhat differently. A useful overview on the relationship between research ethics and research integrity as well as the work of research ethics committees and research integrity offices can be found in the ENERI Manual Research Integrity and Ethics.

As a research integrity office, the remit of LARI excludes, for example, matters pertaining to workplace intimidation, bullying, discrimination, sexual harassment, misuse of funds, accounting fraud, bribery and corruption. LARI acknowledges the seriousness of these matters; however, other organizations are best-suited for those investigations. Some general information about Luxembourg laws pertaining to workplace bullying and moral harassment are available via this link.

Cases of alleged research misconduct are investigated by the Commission for Research Integrity (CRI). The CRI is an independent committee within LARI and comprised of renowned international research integrity experts from diverse disciplinary and geographical backgrounds. Currently, the CRI has seven members. All members of the CRI are from outside Luxembourg and not affiliated with any LARI member organization. Investigations are undertaken without any interference from LARI member organizations, i.e., the CRI proceeds in full independence and does not receive any directives or orders. Cases are primarily investigated by two members of the CRI, referred to as first reader and second reader. Usually, the CRI members with most subject area expertise in a given case are appointed as first and second reader. However, all key decisions are made by the entire committee. More information on how the CRI operates is available in the Rules of Procedure for the National Commission for Research Integrity. If conducting a thorough investigation presupposes subject area expertise not covered by CRI members, the CRI may involve external experts who are subject to the same selection criteria and are bound by the same confidentiality rules as CRI members.

In general, LARI follows the recommendations made in the ENRIO Handbook on Whistleblower Protection in Research and, of course, also all applicable legal requirements, such as those related to data protection and privacy. Data sharing between LARI Member Organizations and LARI. for example, is governed by a dedicated Data Sharing Agreement and information flows between the FNR and LARI are governed by a tailored memorandum of understanding because of the FNR's unique role as research funding organization in the Luxembourgish research system. A typical protective measure is not mentioning the names of collaborating witnesses and case reporters/complainants in communications with other parties to the investigation and in final reports, unless the persons explicitly consent to be identified by name. However, due to the nature of research integrity conflicts, LARI cannot guarantee that other parties to the investigation will not be able to infer the identities of case reporters/complainants and witnesses because often only a limited number of people has knowledge of certain situations, data, conflicts, and so on. In authorship conflicts, for example, there typically are only few people involved. When it comes protecting persons involved in a case from pressure or retaliation (regardless of whether they are case reporters/complainants, witnesses, or the person to whom the allegations refer), LARI requests due protection from the LARI member organization involved in the case and closely collaborates with the respective institutional leaders in setting up protective arrangements. Persons involved in a case may always reach out to LARI to ask for more information on the protective measures in place.

No, as LARI is not a court or a court-like system, there is also no formal appeals procedure. Final reports of the Commission for Research Integrity (CRI) are based on how the CRI understands the facts of the case and entail the following elements: 1) a summary of the result of the investigation, 2) an assessment of the result of the investigation, including a clear statement whether research misconduct had occurred, 3) an evaluation of the severity of the research misconduct if it had occurred, 4) recommendations on corrective, restorative, and/or preventive measures for the parties involved, and 5) lessons learned from the investigation, especially regarding measures that could have prevented the research misconduct if it had occurred. In other words, the CRI develops an evidence-based opinion and derives tailored recommendations from its factual findings, yet it does not in a legal sense rule on an issue or enforce measures. However, the CRI may re-investigate a case if substantial new evidence has become available since the completion of the original investigation.

If your organization is based in Luxembourg and performs or funds research, this is potentially possible. The LARI Statute lays out the procedure for becoming a LARI Member Organization. If your organization is interested in becoming a LARI Member Organization, please contact the LARI Secretary-General with details of your request (secretarygeneral@lari.lu).