Country Report Montenegro

National Research Integrity Landscape

Since the middle of 2019, Montenegro has had the Law on Academic Integrity in order to preserve and improve the quality of higher education, which regulates the principles of academic integrity of teachers, associates, students, as well as other persons with higher education, forms of violation of academic integrity and the procedure for protecting academic integrity . Within that law, it was defined that the academic community consists of academic staff determined by a special law and students. The concept of academic integrity is also defined as academic behavior that ensures the preservation of academic honesty, the dignity of the profession, the quality of work and work products, the spirit of equal cooperation with all participants in the academic process, orientation towards the truth.  As a fundamental value and respect for legal regulations as the basis of responsibility of members of the academic community,  that is, any behavior that is consistent with the principles of academic integrity. That law stipulates that the Ethics Committee performs tasks related to the preservation, improvement, protection and promotion of academic integrity and prevention of all forms of violation of academic integrity. The Ethics Commission is appointed and dismissed by the Government of Montenegro for a period of four years at the proposal of the state administration body responsible for education affairs.

It is envisaged that the Ethics Committee:

1) adopts and monitors the implementation of the Ethics Charter;

2) promotes the principles of academic integrity;

3) decides on a proposal for establishing a violation of the academic integrity of a citizen of Montenegro whose work was published, that is, a qualification obtained outside of Montenegro;

4) gives an opinion on regulations and initiatives in the field of academic ethics;

5) submits an annual report on its work to the Government of Montenegro;

6) performs other tasks in accordance with this law.

 

The ethical charter is a set of rules, principles and guidelines that promote human, intellectual and academic freedom, as well as the responsible exercise of rights in scientific, teaching, artistic and professional work. The Ethics Charter was adopted by the Ethics Committee in 2021.

 

Any natural or legal person for the citizens of Montenegro whose work has been published, i.e. the qualification obtained outside of Montenegro, can submit a proposal for determining the violation of academic integrity.

The ethics committee is obliged to make a decision within six months from the date of submission of the proposal for violation of academic integrity.

An administrative dispute can be initiated against the decision of the Ethics Commission.

 

Scientific workers, i.e. teachers and associates, all students of master’s and doctoral studies, when submitting a thesis for defense, sign an ethical statement confirming under criminal and material responsibility that it is their original work.

When elected to an academic position in the institution, the candidate signs an ethical declaration.

 

At all higher education institutions in Montenegro, there are Ethics Commissions that deal with the preservation, improvement and protection of academic integrity for everything that members of the academic community do and publish in our country.

 

The Ethics Committee, as the umbrella body that takes care of academic integrity in Montenegro, in early 2022 adopted the Dictionary of types of violations of academic integrity, the purpose of which is to list a wider list of types of violations of academic integrity. academic integrity from relevant domestic and international sources. The aim of the Dictionary is to acquaint the academic community with other, recognized in international academic circles, forms and ways of violating academic integrity, which in terms of sophistication and difficulty of proof can be much more problematic than those codified by the Law. .

 

EC members, together with representatives of the Agency for Control and Quality Assurance of Higher Education and the Office of the Council of Europe in Podgorica, visited higher education institutions in Montenegro, and as part of the pilot evaluation of the supplementary standard on academic integrity (standard 11. Mechanisms of academic integrity and strengthening the culture of integrity) . During those visits, international experts from the field of higher education, engaged by the office of the Council of Europe, representatives of AKOKVO and the EC, interviewed representatives of all higher education institutions in Montenegro about the challenges and ways of applying the principle of academic integrity in institutions, and on that occasion proposals were made and suggestions for improving the implementation of the supplementary standard.

 

It was concluded that it is important to implement appropriate preventive and/or corrective measures in order to improve the teaching and research process of all services at higher education institutions. In addition, the measurability of the effects of the realization and implementation of various activities that are carried out with the aim of strengthening academic integrity can be a good indicator of the initiatives taken at higher education institutions, on the basis of which it is possible to further plan and improve the processes.

For further information, see: www.etickikomitet.edu.me

For questions, send an e-mail to: Mara Scepanovic (mara.scepanovic@gmail.com)