Country Report Luxembourg

National situation

Luxembourg has a national research integrity office in the Luxembourg Agency for Research Integrity (LARI). LARI supports its member organizations (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg National Research Fund/FNR, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology/LIST, Luxembourg Institute of Health/LIH, Luxembourg Institute for Socio-Economic Research/LISER) in promoting and safeguarding research integrity. Furthermore, LARI has the exclusive mandate to investigate cases of alleged research misconduct and unacceptable research practices distorting the scientific record, the integrity of the research process, or the integrity of researchers as defined in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. LARI, through its Commission for Research Integrity (CRI), investigates allegations referring to research conducted at its member organizations or related to research funded by the FNR. Investigations are concluded by final reports that give recommendations to LARI member organizations on how to rectify violations of research integrity and prevent misconduct in the future.

LARI

LARI was established as the central national institutional structure for research integrity in 2016 and became fully operational in 2018. The agency is a non-profit organization under Luxembourgish law and was jointly founded by all public research institutions of Luxembourg: the University of Luxembourg, the FNR, LIST, LIH, and LISER. These five institutions have been LARI member organizations ever since, and no new member organization has joined as no new public research body was created during LARI’s organizational lifetime. LARI is financed through membership fees. The institutional structure of LARI follows the model of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity, albeit with some country-specific differences.

Responsibility for the overall governance of LARI lies with the Board of Directors. Since late 2022 the Board is comprised of three eminent individuals who do not simultaneously occupy leading positions at LARI member organizations: Jean-Claude Wiwinius (former President of the Constitutional Court and former President of the Supreme Court of Luxembourg), Babette Simon (former President University of Oldenburg, former Medical Director and CEO of University Hospital Mainz, and Professeur associé at the Faculty of Health, Université Paris Cité), and John Scheid Professor Emeritus at Collège de France). Before, the Board was composed of five senior executives of LARI member organizations. Under the new governance structure, member organizations solely delegate representatives to the annual General Assembly of LARI, which approves the budget and membership fees, but are otherwise not involved in any operative processes of the agency.

The LARI office is headed by the Secretary-General who is also the chief executive and primary representative of the organization. Since October 2023, Tom Lindemann serves as Secretary-General of LARI. He took over the position from Asael Rouby who had served as Secretary-General on an interim basis since 2020.

Investigations of cases of alleged research misconduct are carried out by the Commission for CRI, an independent committee under the auspices of LARI. To ensure independence, neutrality, and unbiasedness, the CRI is composed of renowned research integrity experts who are based outside of Luxembourg and who are not and were not affiliated with any LARI member organization.

Assessment framework

The LARI is governed by the Associations Act, LARI’s Statutes, LARI’s Rules of Procedure for the National Commission for Research Integrity (CRI) – which are based on OeAWI’s Rules of Procedure for the Austrian Commission for Research Integrity – and the (2017 revised version of the) European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. The latter holds the standards of good scientific practice and fundamental principles of research integrity.

Mission(s)

LARI is governed legally by the Associations Act, organizationally by its Statutes, operationally by the Rules of Procedure for the National Commission for Research Integrity (CRI) and internal standard operating procedures, and normatively by the latest version of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

LARI has a twofold mission:

• Promoting research integrity and preventing research misconduct through training and education, advice and guidance services, policy support, and awareness-raising.
• Investigating cases of suspected research misconduct and other unacceptable research practices at LARI member organizations or related to research funded by the FNR and giving recommendations on corrective, restorative, and preventive measures to rectify proven research integrity breaches.

Preventive measures are the primary responsibility of the LARI secretariat and led by the Secretary-General, whereas investigative measures fall within the responsibility of the Commission for Research Integrity which, however, closely collaborates with the LARI secretariat in all communications with stakeholders.

Commission for Research Integrity (CRI)

Authority

The CRI is the organ within the LARI that is authorized to investigate cases of alleged research misconduct and give recommendations to LARI member organizations on how to rectify research integrity violations. The CRI started its work in 2017 and is independent of all other organs within LARI as well as from LARI member organizations. LARI’s Secretary-General closely collaborates with and supports the CRI (especially when it comes to interacting with parties to an investigation and LARI member organizations) yet has no voting rights or other decision-making authority in the committee.

Composition

As of 2024, the CRI consists of seven members who are all recognized research integrity experts from outside Luxembourg to ensure independence, neutrality, and unbiasedness of investigations. CRI members must declare conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from investigations if they have a conflict of interest.

As of 2024, the CRI is chaired by Mylène Deschenes (Director of Ethics and Legal Affairs, Fonds de recherche du Québec, Canada). Other CRI members include Vice-Chair Vedran Katavić (Professor of Human Anatomy, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Croatia & Ethics Expert, European Commission), Bernice Elger (Head of the Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel & Professor at the Unit of Medical Law and Humanitarian Medicine, University Center of Legal Medicine, Department of Health and Community Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland), Vidar Enebakk (Director, Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH), Norway), Daniele Fanelli (Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom), Nicole Föger (independent research integrity and research ethics advisor & former Managing Director of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity; Life Coaching, Business, Career and Executive Coaching, Austria), and Michael Kalichman (Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Research Ethics Program, University of California, San Diego & Co-Founder and former Co-Leader of the US National Advisory Panel on Research Integrity, United States).

CRI members are nominated with a view towards ensuring diversity of disciplinary backgrounds and gender. They are appointed for a term of three years by the Board of LARI with assent from the Minister of Research and Higher Education. Members can serve a maximum of three consecutive terms.

Scope and remit

The scope of the CRI is restricted to research conducted at or funded by LARI member organizations. In practice, this means that the CRI investigates cases of alleged research misconduct and unacceptable research practice at the University of Luxembourg, LIST, LIH, and LISER as well as related to research funded by the FNR (which may include beneficiaries that are not LARI member organizations). In terms of content, the CRI investigates all types of research misconduct and other unacceptable research practices insofar they distort the scientific record, the integrity of the research process, or the integrity of researchers as defined in the latest version of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.

Under the CRI’s remit, it can be called upon by anyone who has reasonable grounds to suspect that research misconduct or other unacceptable research practice has occurred at a LARI member organization or in research funded by the FNR. The CRI can be called upon by both individuals and institutions, neither of whom needs to be affiliated with LARI member organizations or be based in Luxembourg. In other words, anyone with reasonable grounds to suspect that research misconduct or unacceptable research practice may have occurred and acting in good faith may contact the CRI to make an allegation. The CRI does investigate anonymous allegations if it can ascertain that there are valid reasons for a whistleblower’s wish to stay anonymous.

LARI member organizations are obliged to report research misconduct allegations to the CRI. Consequently, the CRI’s authority is exclusive and there shall be no undue overlaps between the mandate of the CRI and other bodies.

Procedure

The structure of investigations as well as the roles and responsibilities of the CRI, the LARI Board, the LARI Secretary-General, and LARI member organizations insofar investigations are concerned are defined in detail in the Rules of Procedure of the Commission for Research Integrity, which are currently undergoing a revision. The remainder of the report proceeds on the assumption that the proposed revisions will be approved by or shortly after its publication and, thus, describes the procedures outlined in the latest draft (the revisions are minor in terms of content and primarily serve to enhance clarity about how the CRI operates in light of the experiences made since the founding of LARI).

In a first step, an initial inquiry into each allegation is conducted by the Chair and Vice-Chair of the CRI to assess whether the reported case falls within the committee’s scope and remit. If it does, responsibility for leading the investigation is assigned to the two CRI members with the most pertinent expertise (the first reader and the second reader). The first and second reader provide updates about the state of an investigation at regular (usually monthly) CRI meetings, and key decisions on how to proceed are usually discussed with the entire committee.

The CRI will obtain opinions, statements and/or additional documentation from the involved parties. LARI’s Secretary-General serves as primary interlocutor of the involved parties and acts on behalf of and as mandated by the CRI during the investigations, while always maintaining a neutral position.

If a sufficient assessment of the facts is not possible based on the materials submitted, the CRI may hold a meeting with the parties involved. It also may obtain expert opinions. At any stage of the procedure, the CRI may issue recommendations to its member organizations to take actions that help in the assessment of the case or to take protective measures. CRI’s deliberations take place in closed sessions. The members of the CRI and, more generally, all individuals which are part of the proceedings and/or have access to information in the framework of CRI’s proceedings (e.g., members of LARI secretariat and external experts) are obliged to maintain strict confidentiality.

Upon completion of the investigation, the first and second reader compose a final assessment for discussion with other CRI members and, thereafter, a final report to be sent to the LARI member organization(s) involved in a case. Final reports require approval from the CRI (i.e., not only from the first and second reader) according to the majority requirements specified in the CRI’s Rules of Procedure.

Opinions

CRI’s opinions must state the gravity of the misconduct and contain appropriate advice, e.g. on sanctions. The CRI aims to complete its investigation and opinion within 4 months after the request has been submitted. It sends its opinions to the person who or institutions which called upon the CRI if that person or institution is directly affected by the allegations submitted, and to the person(s) to whom the allegations referred. In all cases, opinions are sent to the institution(s) where the misconduct was said to have taken place as well as to the FNR, in cases where the suspected research misconduct occurred in relations with an FNR-funded project or researcher. In addition, the CRI’s opinion is sent to LARI’s Board for information purposes. The opinions of the CRI are binding because its member organisations are not authorized to give opinions on the local level about research misconduct. A kind of appeal from CRI’s opinions is possible: if substantial new information or evidence has become available since case completion, the CRI may take up the case again.

Final Reports

The CRI’s final reports must state the gravity of the misconduct and contain clear advice, e.g., on corrective, restorative, and preventive measures. The CRI aims to complete its investigation and provide a final report within five months after the beginning of an investigation (three months if the allegation refers to issues sanctionable under the Luxembourgish Whistleblower Act). Final reports are sent to the LARI member organization involved in the case, and the person(s) to whom the allegation refers as well as the person(s) making the allegation are informed that a final report was sent to the LARI member organization involved. The LARI member organization involved is obliged to duly inform all relevant parties about the CRI’s findings and recommendations and bears responsibility for implementing and/or overseeing the implementation of the recommended measures. Moreover, the LARI member organization involved must report back to the CRI if the recommendations were implemented and justify any deviations that may have occurred.

Transparency

LARI usually issues public annual reports in which all the activities of the agency are summarized, unless confidentiality restrictions apply. Due to the confidential nature of investigations, only basic information about the CRI’s activities can be shared publicly, for example. Because LARI went through an organizational transition and the Secretary-General position was filled only on an interim basis between mid-2020 and mid-2023, a multi-annual rather than annual report was devised for this transition phase. From 2024 onwards, however, yearly intervals will become the norm again.

In addition to the annual reports, the Secretary-General regularly (usually on a quarterly basis) reports all recent and planned upcoming activities to the Board of Directors. Yearly reports are presented to and discussed with LARI member organizations at the Annual General Meeting.

 

For further information, see: www.lari.lu
For questions, send an e-mail to: Tom Lindemann, LARI Secretary-General (secretarygeneral@lari.lu or tom.lindemann@lari.lu)

 

Last update: June 2024