Frequently Asked Questions
What is ESENCe?
The beta site for a national clearinghouse for ethics in science and engineering is designed to benefit the national and international scientific and engineering research communities. In April 2009, the National Science Foundation’s Office of Integrative Research sponsored a project at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to advance development of an Ethics in Science and Engineering National Clearinghouse (SES 0936857). The Ethics in Science and Engineering National Clearinghouse (ESENCe) uses state-of-the-art digital tools to preserve and widely disseminate a variety of materials on ethics and the responsible conduct of research in science and engineering disciplines.
How does ESENCe relate to America COMPETES?
ESENCe was created as a direct response to two sections of America COMPETES, relating to mentoring of postdoctoral researchers and the responsible conduct of research:
America COMPETES Act (PL NO. 110-69, August 9, 2007)
Section 7008: Postdoctoral Research Fellows
- MENTORING.—The Director shall require that all grant applications that include funding to support postdoctoral researchers include a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals, and shall ensure that this part of the application is evaluated under the Foundation’s broader impacts merit review criterion. Mentoring activities may include career counseling, training in preparing grant applications, guidance on ways to improve teaching skills, and training in research ethics.
- REPORTS.—The Director shall require that annual reports and the final report for research grants that include funding to support postdoctoral researchers include a description of the mentoring activities provided to such researchers.
Section 7009: Responsible Conduct of Research
- The Director shall require that each institution that applies for financial assistance from the Foundation for science and engineering research or education describe in its grant proposal a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project.
NSF Implementation Plan from the Federal Register (Vol. 74, No. 160, August 20, 2009)
- “Effective January 4, 2010, NSF will require that, at the time of proposal submission to NSF, a proposing institution's Authorized Organizational Representative certify that the institution has a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers who will be supported by NSF to conduct research. While training plans are not required to be included in proposals submitted to NSF, institutions are advised that they are subject to review upon request. NSF will formally implement the new RCR requirement via an update to the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). It is anticipated that the revisions to the PAPPG will be issued on October 1, 2009. NSF also will modify its standard award conditions to clearly stipulate that institutions are responsible for verifying that undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers supported by NSF to conduct research have received RCR training. In addition, NSF will support the development of an on-line RCR resource containing research findings, pedagogical materials, and promising practices regarding RCR in science and engineering. The development and evolution of the ongoing online RCR resource will be informed by the research communities that NSF supports, and it will serve as a living resource of multimedia materials that may be used to train current and future generations of scientists and engineers in RCR.”
Who maintains ESENCe?
The multi-disciplinary project team at University of Massachusetts Amherst that builds the site includes Jane Fountain, Director of the National Center for Digital Government and Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, the Principal Investigator; Marilyn Billings, Scholarly Communication and Special Initiative Librarian, Jessica Adamick, Ethics Clearinghouse Librarian, and Michelle Goncalves, Project Manager.
Can I receive automatic updates regarding new content?
Yes, ESENCe offers a customized email alert service called bealerts (link). You can also subscribe to the ESENCe RSS feed (link).
Who can submit work to ESENCe?
We accept work that is academic and relevant to research ethics in Science and Engineering disciplines.
What types of materials are accepted?
Research ethics materials in Science and Engineering disciplines, including Social Sciences. Examples of relevant topics are conflict of interest, data management, human subjects, mentoring, plagiarism, whistle blowing, privacy, lab animals, collaborative research, authorship and publication, peer review, and international and cross-cultural dimensions of ethics in Science and Engineering. Materials can be research, such as presentations, working papers, and publications, or teaching tools, such as syllabi, teaching modules, case studies, online courses, and educational videos. Multi-part projects can also be submitted.
What do I need to know about copyright before submitting material to ESENCe?
The author’s copyright will not change upon submission to ESENCe. ESENCe, and any future manifestations of ESENCe, holds a non-exclusive right to preserve and disseminate submitted material. We encourage the use of Creative Commons “attribution, non-commercial, share-alike” license:
“This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd [attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives] license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.”
Authors can also choose a Creative Commons license from a supplied list.
It is the author’s responsibility to understand if he/she holds the copyright to authored work, and has permission to post their work on ESENCe. To check publisher permissions, ESENCe recommends the use of the Sherpa RoMEO database, which collects publisher permission policies.
Can I withdraw materials I submitted from ESENCe?
Once an item has been submitted to ESENCe, a record for that item will remain to assure that citations to the item can be verified. A full-text or complete work will be deleted with a written or emailed request and approval of a project director. A reason for deletion will be posted in the record after item removal.