MLE on Research Integrity: Thematic Report No 2 - Incentives

This thematic report provides the lessons learned from the Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) devoted to research integrity. The focus of this report is on setting incentives to promote and foster research integrity.
The document starts with a review of the topic aimed at articulating the concept of incentives in the context of research integrity, in order to focus and thus facilitate the dialogue that took place at the Working Meeting. It subsequently discusses the multifaceted problem of incentives, which can be positive as well as "perverse", and the risk of unintended consequences, in relation to relevant and recent academic literature. The report then reviews major recent policy reports, to highlight the current expectations placed on institutions to promote and incentivize research integrity; it identifies core challenges of using incentives to promote good research practices across the EU; it summarizes the exchanges and discussions held at a dedicated workshop; and finally itmakes a set of policy recommendations on how to set incentives for research integrity across the EU.