Ethics

The RHIC & AGS User's Executive Committee strongly encourages all users working at RHIC and the AGS to include consideration of issues of ethics in their collaboration and/or group policies and discussions. Topics to be addressed include the proper conduct of research, qualifications for authorship on publications of various types, attribution of results, referencing the work of others, etc.

Many collaborations may already have well established rules and customs concerning these issues. All users are encouraged to ensure that they are aware of and understand the policies of the groups with which they work. Experience has shown that a serious discussion of these issues is most valuable well before a particular problem surfaces.

The UEC does not endorse any particular set of policies. However, useful guidance can be found in many places. One helpful starting point is the American Physical Society ethics statements located at: http://www.aps.org/statements/index.cfm#ethics. The Guidelines for Professional Conduct located at: http://www.aps.org/statements/02_2.cfm are particularly relevant.