Chapter 1: General Provisions
Article 1 [Purpose)
The purpose of this regulation is to present the guidelines of research ethics on the academic research activities of the International Network for Korean Language and Culture (hereinafter referred to as INK) and to arrange matters concerning the establishment and operation of the Ethics Committee.
Article 2 (Definition of Terms)
The definition of terms used in this regulation is as follows.
1. ‘Research misconduct’ refers to falsification, alteration, plagiarism, unauthorized authorship, and other misconduct in the process of proposing, performing, examining, and reporting results of research and presentation. The details are as follows:
1) ‘Counterfeiting’ refers to the act of making false data or research results that do not exist.
2) ‘Modulation’ refers to the act of artificially manipulating the research process or distorting the research contents or results by arbitrarily modifying or deleting the data.
3) ‘Plagiarism’ refers to the act of stealing ideas, research contents and results of others without proper approval or quotation.
4) ‘Indication of unjustified article author’ means not granting the author’s title to the person who has made academic contribution or contributed to the research content or results without good reason, or granting the author's title to the person who has not made academic contribution.
5) ‘Other misconducts’ refers to acts that intentionally interferes with investigations of suspicious misconduct made by the author himself or someone else, or acts that harm the informant, or acts that are seriously out of the scope normally accepted in academia in relation to research.
2. ‘Unfair use of research funds’ refers to the illegal use of research funds or using funds in other unfair ways.
Article 3 (Applicability)
These regulations apply to the members of the INK who have contributed to the journal or other publications of the INK, and those who have made presentations at the academic events organized by the INK.
Article 4 (Rules of Research Ethics)
The editor-in-chief convenes the editorial committee and appoints three reviewers per paper.
All members of the INK and all persons who fall under Article 3 must faithfully abide by the following Code of Ethics for Research.
1. Act in accordance with conscience, when presenting research activities and research results.
2. Do not post any duplicates of a degree dissertation or an article published in another journal, as if it were a new achievement.
3. Respect copyright and other rights of other researchers. When citing a previous study, describe exactly which part is the prior study, and what part is the author’s own idea, claim, and interpretation, and clarify the source.
4. Do not forge or tamper with data in the course of the study. The data should be kept for two years after the publication.
5. When requested for reviewing an article or a research study, the reviewer shall do it objectively and fairly.
Chapter 2 Research Ethics Committee
Article 5 (Purpose)
A research ethics committee (hereinafter referred to as the ‘committee’) is established in order to actively prevent, investigate and deal with fraudulent activities such as research misconducts and misuse of research expenses by members of the INK.
Article 6 (Installation and Configuration)
1. The committee shall be established directly under the president of the institute.
2. The committee shall consist of no more than 10 members.
3. The members of the committee shall be the editor-in-chief, the research chairman, and the general secretary (one senior person), and the other committee members shall be appointed by the recommendation of the editorial committee.
4. The term of office of the chairperson and members of the committee shall be two years, which shall be the same as that of the presidency.
Article 7 (Chairperson)
1. The committee shall have one chairperson, but the chairperson shall be elected by mutual vote among the members of the committee.
2. The chairperson shall oversee the committee’s work and represent the committee.
3. If the chairperson is the subject of a deliberation or an interested party or is unable to perform his / her duties for unavoidable reasons, a committee member appointed by the president of the INK shall act for the duties of the chairperson.
4. The chairperson shall conduct meetings to ensure that the deliberations are fair, efficient and consistent.
5. The chairperson shall take necessary measures to prevent any violation of the rights of the person to be deliberated or the interested party in connection with the deliberation.
6. The chairperson shall ensure that any member of the committee is not involved in any deliberation, if the member is related to the deliberation.
7. The chairman shall ensure that unjustified external pressure or influence does not reach the committee members.
Article 8 (Members)
1. The commissioner shall conduct a deliberation in good faith and on the basis of truth.
2. The commissioner shall not disclose the perceptions related to the deliberation matters in private and shall be careful not to infringe on the personal liberty and personal rights of the individual.
3. The commissioner shall refuse any unreasonable external pressure or influence on the deliberation.
4. If a member of the committee is subject to deliberation, his/her right as a commissioner on the deliberative agenda shall immediately cease to be in effect.
Article 9 (Secretary)
1. The committee shall have one secretary appointed by the chairperson to facilitate the meetings of the committee.
2. The secretary shall, with the approval of the chairman and the president, handle the following affairs of the committee:
1) General matters concerning the committee meetings
2) Matters concerning measures, reports, etc.
3) Other tasks related to committee activities
Article 10 (Meeting)
1. The chairperson convenes meetings of the committee and becomes its speaker.
2. The meetings of the committee shall be divided into regular meetings and extraordinary meetings. The date and time of the regular meetings shall be decided by the chairman in consideration of the publication dates of the journals, and the extraordinary meetings shall be convened when the chairman deems necessary.
3. A meeting of the Committee shall be held with the attendance of a majority of the members of the Committee and shall be decided by a majority vote of the members present.
4. If investigation is necessary due to a complaint of research misconduct, or due to a recognition of misconduct through other processes, the committee shall make a separate investigation committee and make a final decision, based on the result.
Article 11 (Advisory Board Member)
1. An advisory member may be appointed for consultation by experts in the field concerned. The advisory member shall be nominated by the president of the INK upon recommendation of the chairperson.
2. In the event that the advisory member is asked for opinions on the deliberative agenda, the chairman shall disclose the opinion of the advisory member to the committee.
Article 12 (Subcommittee)
1. A subcommittee may be held on the committee, if necessary, for an efficient performance of the committee's work.
2. Matters necessary for the establishment and operation of the subcommittee shall be determined by the chairman after the decision of the committee.
Article 13 (Functions)
The committee shall consider the following matters.
1. Matters concerning the research ethics and truthfulness of the articles submitted to all academic works (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Journal’) published by the INK, including the journal of the INK
2. Matters concerning the research ethics and truthfulness of the presentations of academic conferences, seminars, debates, and other official academic discourses organized by the INK
3. Matters concerning evaluation of ethical and academic feasibility of the research plan hosted, sponsored, and recommended by the INK
4. Matters concerning the protection of information that can identify individuals such as the names and resident registration numbers of the members of the INK
5. Other important issues related to the research of the INK
Article 14 (Operating Rules)
The details necessary for the operation of these regulations shall be determined by the President through resolution of the committee.
Chapter 3 Verification of Research Ethics
Article 15 (Verification Prescription)
1. In principle, any misconduct is allegedly done 5 years before the necessity of verification of research ethics and truthfulness is raised, the committee should not treat the misconduct, even if it receives any report on illegal use such as research misconduct or misuse of research expenses.
2. Even if the research is conducted before 5 years, if the researcher directly uses the previous results to plan and perform the follow-up research, and report and present the results of the research, and if it is seriously harmful to the credibility of academic research activities of the INK, the committee should handle the issue.
Article 16 (Verification Procedure)
1. The verification procedure for research misconduct shall be proceeded to the three stages of ‘preliminary investigation’, ‘main investigation’ and ‘judgment’, but if the committee considers it necessary to conduct further investigation, the procedure can be expanded.
2. ‘Preliminary investigation’ refers to the procedure for determining whether or not there is a need to formally investigate the allegations of research misconduct. ‘The main investigation’ is a procedure for verifying the fact of the alleged misconduct. ‘Decision’ refers to the procedure of finalizing the result of this investigation, announcing it, or informing the informant and the respondent in a written form.
Article 17 (Preliminary Survey)
1. The committee shall conduct a preliminary investigation within 20 days from the date of receipt of the report or the acknowledgment of misconduct.
2. If the respondent acknowledges all the results of the preliminary investigation, the committee may make a judgment on whether or not the act is fraudulent, without going through the process of the main investigation.
3. If it is clear from the preliminary investigation that there is no misconduct, the committee shall notify the informant in writing of the findings of the investigation. However, this shall not apply in the case of an anonymous report.
Article 18 (Main Investigation)
1. If the committee finds it necessary, it shall formulate an investigating board under this article in accordance with the provisions of the following sub-paragraphs:
1) The number of the board members shall be five or more.
2) Any person who has an interest in the matter to be investigated shall not participate in the board.
2. In the course of the investigation, the board may request attendance of the informant, the respondent, the witness, and the reference person for a statement, in which case the respondent must comply.
3. The board may request the respondent to submit the data, in which case the respondent must submit the data concerned.
4. The board shall give the informant and the respondent the opportunity to express their opinions and give them the opportunity to appeal and to argue before making the final judgment. If the parties do not comply, they shall be deemed to have no objection.
5. The research ethics committee shall set specific guidelines for the conduct of the individual investigation activities of this board.
Article 19 (Judgment)
1. The board shall immediately report the results of the investigation to the Research Ethics Committee upon completion of the investigation. The Research Ethics Committee shall confirm the findings after the deliberation and inform the informant and the respondent in writing of the confirmed results without delay.
2. All investigative schedules from the start of the preliminary investigation to the determination shall be completed within six months. However, if it is judged that it is difficult to complete the investigation within this period, the period may be extended within 60 days after the decision of the Research Ethics Committee.
Article 20 (Review)
1. If the respondent or the informant disagrees with the ruling, he or she may request a written review to the Research Ethics Committee within 30 days from the date of notification of the ruling.
2. The committee may conduct a reexamination based on the request for review, if it is deemed appropriate. The reexamination shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 and shall be completed within 60 days.
Article 21 (Taking Measures)
1. In the event that the conduct of the respondent under the verification procedure is deemed to be a research misconduct, the committee may propose the following sanctions to the president of the INK:
1) The article published by a research misconduct is to be cancelled by the journal of the INK. The fact that the publication of the article has been cancelled is published on the homepage of the journal and the INK. The provision of the original article via online will immediately cease.
2) Any presentation based on research misconduct shall be excluded from the reviewing process of the journal of the INK.
3) A person who has committed a research misconduct under 1), 2) or 3) of Clause 1, Article 2, shall be deprived of his or her right for publication for three years.
4) A person who has committed a research misconduct that falls under 4) and 5) of Clause 1, Article 2 shall be deprived of his / her right for publication in the journal for one year.
2. In the event of a recommendation by the committee, the President of the INK shall convene a board of the executive members to decide on final sanctions.
3. Any member who is found to be in violation of the research ethics regulations may be punished by a warning, termination or deprivation of the membership, and may be informed to other organizations or individuals.
4. Records relating to the preliminary investigation and the main investigation, the judgment and the re-examination shall be kept by the Ethics Committee for five years after the end of the investigation.
Chapter 4 Report on Research-related Misconduct
Article 22 (Report and acceptance)
1. In order to prevent fraudulent activities related to research in Article 2, the INK should provide various conditions for reporting and accepting fraudulent activities such as research misconduct and research expense misuse.
2. The informant may report any irregularities related to research in any way possible, including oral, written, telephone, e-mail, etc., in principle. However, even if an anonymous proposal is made, it can be processed in accordance with the anonymous notice if it is reported in writing or by e-mail including the title of the research project or the name of the research, and the detailed content and evidence of specific misconduct.
3. The information contained in paragraph 2 shall be reported to the chairperson of the Research Ethics Committee without delay. It may be reported to the president of the INK, in case the chairperson is not available.
Article 23 (Protecting the rights of the informant)
1. The matters relating to the identity of the informant shall not be directly or indirectly disclosed and the name of the informant shall not be included in the report of the investigation for the protection of the informant, unless absolutely necessary.
2. If the informant is a member of the INK, the INK shall thoroughly protect the informant from unwarranted violation of his or her rights as a member of the INK.
Article 24 (Protecting the rights of the respondent)
1. The Committee shall be careful not to infringe the honor or rights of the respondent until the verification of the research-related misconduct has been completed.
2. If the investigation result proves that research-related misconduct has not occurred, the INK and the committee shall faithfully carry out efforts to recover the honor of the respondent.
3. Investigation and verification of research-related misconduct shall not be disclosed to the outside until the final decision of the research results is made by the Board of Main Investigation and the Research Ethics Committee.
Chapter 5 Amendment of Research Ethics Regulations
Article 25
The amendment procedure of the research ethics regulations conforms to the amendment procedure of the general regulations of the INK. If a research ethics code is amended, the members who have pledged to abide by the existing code will be deemed to have pledged to abide by the new code without any additional oath.
Addendum
1. The regulations may be amended with the consent of 2/3 or more of the members.
2. The bylaws required for the implementation of the regulations shall be determined by the Research Ethics Committee.
3. Any matters not provided in the regulations shall be subject to custom.
4. The regulations shall come into effect on June 1, 2008.
5. The revised regulations shall be effective from September 1, 2009.
6. The revised regulations shall come into effect on January 1, 2014.
