The Neuromatch Impact Scholars Program is committed to fostering a culture of integrity, openness, inclusivity, and responsibility in research. This policy outlines the expectations for all Scholars and Project Supervisors regarding research integrity, responsible data use, ethical review, collaboration, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools across any aspect of your research. This policy applies to all participants and to all stages of project development, analysis, authorship, and dissemination, including alumni who continue to work on project outputs after the formal program period concludes.
Scholars and Project Supervisors are expected to uphold the highest standards of honesty, transparency, and reproducibility in all aspects of their research:
- Scholars will report data, methods, and results accurately, without fabrication, falsification, or selective omission.
- Data collection, analysis, and reporting must be accurate and free from fabrication, falsification, or selective presentation of results.
- Proper attribution will be given to all contributors, datasets, and external resources.
- Scholars will maintain clear documentation of their research process to ensure replicability and accountability.
The Impact Scholars Program supports the ethical and transparent use of data. Scholars and Project Supervisors must:
- Use only datasets that are openly available, ethically sourced, and properly licensed.
- Review and comply with dataset-specific usage restrictions, consent terms, and licenses.
- Do not use personally identifiable or sensitive human data unless explicit consent for secondary research use is already in place.
- Follow secure data management practices and comply with relevant privacy protections.
- Store, manage, and publish data and code in alignment with FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).
Neuromatch is committed to inclusive, respectful, and globally equitable research practice. Scholars and Project Supervisors must:
- Foster mutual respect and inclusive participation within teams.
- Recognize and value diverse cultural, geographic, disciplinary, and life experiences.
- Avoid discriminatory, exclusionary, or disrespectful communication or behavior,Engage with collaborators in ways that share credit fairly and avoid gatekeeping or hierarchical dominance.
This reflects and reinforces the . Participants are encouraged to reflect on the broader implications of their work. Teams should:
- Consider potential misuse, unintended consequences, or misinterpretation of findings, especially in sensitive domains such as health, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and climate science.
- Use care in communicating preliminary or uncertain results.
- Projects should be designed and communicated in ways that prioritize scientific integrity, transparency, and societal benefit when framing outputs.
In line with Neuromatch’s open science values:
- Scholars will share their research outputs, including code, data, and results, as openly as possible while adhering to any data restrictions and privacy concerns.
- All shared materials should include appropriate licensing and acknowledgments to ensure proper credit and reuse transparency.
- Final outputs will be publicly shared via Zenodo micropublications.
To maintain academic integrity and promote responsible research practices, scholars and supervisors may make non-substantial use of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, or similar systems) as productivity aids, but not as substitutes for original scholarly work.
- All written materials must reflect the original work and intellectual contribution of the scholars and supervisors involved.
- The use ofAI in data analysis is acceptable if the code and results for all individual steps are carefully verified. All software and analytical tools, including any AI systems, must be properly documented and verified for accuracy and reproducibility.
- The creation of AI-generated visual materials or artwork is acceptable only if explicitly disclosed as such (e.g., “Image generated with [AI name (AI version)]”).
- All software and analytical tools, including any AI systems, must be properly documented and verified for accuracy and reproducibility.
By participating in the Impact Scholars Program, Scholars and Project Supervisors confirm that they have read, understood, and agree to follow this policy. Concerns about ethical or integrity issues should be raised confidentially with the Program Team. Breachers of this policy may result in removal from the program and reassessment or withdrawal of research outputs.