As scientific research is intimately connected with personal and group prestige and critically depends on a substantial stream of funding, issues, such as ethical conduct, collegiality, and conflict of interest, have been an important aspect of the culture while performing research. It should be pointed out that no field of research can be seen free of potential temptations to test or even transgress the boundaries of what is considered ethical conduct by the scientific community and the public. As scientific results and their applications can have substantial impact on the well-being of our society in many ways, the negative effects of misconduct can be substantial. Therefore, and because several highly visible cases of misconduct have surfaced over the past decade or two in a variety of research fields the major funding agencies, scientific societies, and institutions of higher education have put significant emphasis on Responsible Conduct in Research. Scientific misconduct may have been more highly visible in medicione and life sciences, but several recent prominent cases in the physical sciences, such as the ones of Victor Ninov and Hendrik Schön, have reemphasized that every profession has to be alert.
The Office of Sponsored Research of the University of New Hampshire has undertaken a major effort to assess all aspects and implications of Responsible Conduct in Research and to offer a suitable training program that is available online. A comprehensive website contains a description of the university-wide efforts and many valuable links to simililar programs at other institutions and resources at professional organizations, funding agencies, and other universities. Since this page is meant for Physics students we should point out explicitly the profession specific website by the American Physical Society. The Federal Policy on Research Misconduct may be found on a website at the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Another comprehensive website on Responsible Conduct in Research resides with the Office of Research Integrity of the US Department of Health. Although this website is geared more towards health and human services related professionals and students it contains the important general topics, and the webmodules contain some games with which to learn the issues.
In a discussion with Dr. Frank Macrina over lunch I just learned of another interesting website with articles that touch on the issues of Responsible Conduct in Research. Dr. David Goodstein of Caltech has written articles about several important issues within, about, and around science.