Academic integrity
The confidential counsellor for academic integrity is your first port of call for any questions or situations relating to academic integrity, or if you have suspicions about a current or former employee of Leiden University. All your meetings with the confidential counsellor are confidential.
Frits Koning
Confidential counsellor for academic integrity/LUMC
“It can be intimidating to take your problem to someone you don’t know, but we don’t bite!”
Koning is a Professor of Immunology and is available to support all staff members of the university and staff members in the Faculty of Medicine/LUMC. He is also the confidential counsellor for doctoral candidates within that faculty.
Get in touch with Frits Koning via f.koning@lumc.nl or 071 526 6673.
Janine Ubink
Confidential counsellor for academic integrity/HUM, ARCH, FSW and LAW
"If you have a question about academic integrity, don’t keep dwelling on it. Instead, come and discuss it with us."
Jan van Ruitenbeek
Confidential counsellor for academic integrity/Science
“Academic integrity is crucial for the scientific world to work successfully. You are always welcome to discuss issues, even if you are in doubt about whether your problem is important enough.”
Academic integrity is essential for the world of academia to function properly. When the principles of academic integrity are violated, then not only the quality but also the reliability of academia is jeopardised. That can lead to direct harm, for instance to patients or the research environment, and it can damage public trust in academia and the trust between academics themselves.
Violations of academic integrity
Since 1 October 2018, Dutch universities have been required to comply with the Dutch Code of Conduct on Academic Integrity. All academic staff must follow this code of conduct. Academic integrity is violated when the code of conduct is broken, for instance through:
- Falsification and deliberately misleading interpretation of research results,
- Deliberately misleading use of (statistical) methods,
- Plagiarism of publications,
- Omitting or failing to recognise co-authors, or the unjustifiable addition of someone as (co-)author,
- Not amending errors following justified criticism, and covering up colleagues’ misconduct.
What the confidential counsellor does
The counsellor is your first port of call for any questions or situations relating to academic integrity, or if you have suspicions about a current or former employee of Leiden University. The confidential counsellor can help with mediation efforts or attempts to resolve the matter in some other way. He/she can also offer advice and guidance about submitting a complaint to the committee.
What the confidential counsellor does not do
He/she is not a mediator, and will never get involved in the standard judicial process, nor will he/she act as legal counsel in any complaints or appeals proceedings. The confidential counsellor is not a member of the Academic Integrity Committee. The confidential counsellor is there to offer advice and, unlike the committee, has no authority to investigate.
Confidentiality guaranteed
Your meetings with the confidential counsellor are confidential. The counsellor will not take any of the steps you discuss without your permission. You always have the final say, and it is ultimately your decision whether you want to refer the matter to the Committee on Academic Integrity.
Committee on Academic Integrity
You always have the option to submit a complaint directly to the Committee on Academic Integrity. If you would like to take that route, the confidential counsellor can advise you about how best to do that. People who are not employed by the university can also submit a complaint to the Committee on Academic Integrity. The committee, the secretary and the associated secretarial staff are all bound by a duty of confidentiality. All information will be handled in confidence.