African Studies Center

at Michigan State University

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Ethics for Research in Africa

MSU Faculty Guidelines for Scholarly and Professional Cooperation with Colleagues in Africa

We, the Core Faculty of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University (MSU), establish the following guidelines for collaboration with African colleagues. These guidelines are offered as a guide to all those from MSU who construct agreements for research and cooperation or who work in Africa, including faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and all persons under MSU auspices or associated with MSU projects and programs in Africa. MSU faculty and students are expected to respect the laws, regulations, and customs of the African and U.S. governments and of funding agencies governing research and administration of projects in Africa, including “human subjects” regulations. These guidelines are not legally binding and do not supersede other MSU, state, federal, or scholarly rules and regulations guiding external linkages and collaboration. Rather, these guidelines are an attempt to establish parameters for cooperation and trust, which we want to grow between our university, its faculty, students, and staff, and the peoples and institutions of Africa.

A. Character of Collaboration

We shall seek as far as possible to use our skills and knowledge in order to enhance the power of choice, the independence, and the welfare of African peoples and countries. We especially shall seek to enhance the resources and the capacities of African universities and institutions and African scholars to further their scholarly work and their search for solutions to African needs and problems. We shall seek to ensure that our activities in no way bring harm to Africa and African peoples.

We are committed to full and open collaboration with our African colleagues, to full disclosure of the nature and details of any projects which we establish with them, and to using the projects to increase the resources and welfare of our African collaborators, as well as all participants in our research, and the nations and regions being studied.

In our work with each other, our African co-investigators, and our graduate students, we are committed to open scholarly cooperation and to provide exemplary models of cross-disciplinary team research in our work.

When we engage in research in Africa, we shall notify our African colleagues of the sponsors, funders, and potential uses intended for the information to be collected. We shall not engage in any research which we know or believe is funded secretly, is likely to be used for covert purposes, or has potentially negative consequences for our colleagues. We shall make every effort to keep all of our research, instructional, and service activities free of sponsorship, direct funding, or secret uses by military and intelligence agencies of all governments. We shall not knowingly engage or participate in projects which could be reasonably construed as sustaining or strengthening the powers of political leaders or states guilty of violations of human rights. Furthermore, we are committed to keeping in the public domain all work completed under any government sponsorship.

B. Responsibilities to our Collaborators and to the African Peoples in our Research

  1. To the peoples in our research: We owe disclosure of our research goals, methods, sponsorship, and results. The participation of people in our research activities shall be on a voluntary and informed basis. Throughout our research activities and in subsequent publications, we shall maintain the confidentiality of those we study. We shall inform the people we study of the likely limits of confidentiality. We shall not promise a greater degree of confidentiality than can be reasonably expected. Within the limits of our knowledge, we shall disclose to those we study any significant risk that may result from our activities. We shall seek to extend the benefits of our research and other projects to all participants.

  2. To the African communities ultimately affected by our research and its uses: We owe respect for their individual and communal dignity, integrity, and worth. We recognize that human survival is contingent upon the continued existence of a diversity of human communities, and we shall guide our professional activities accordingly. We shall seek to be conscious of the potential uses and implications of our research data and of the agendas of the sponsors and funders of the research, especially when any recommendations of our studies may affect the interests of the peoples or communities in our research.

  3. To our African research colleagues: We have the responsibility to give support to their professional activities. In addition to respecting the needs, responsibilities, and legitimate proprietary interests of our sponsors, we shall increase the flow of information about both research outcomes and professional methods and techniques. We shall accurately report the contributions of colleagues to our work. We shall not condone falsification or distortion by others. We shall not prejudice communities or agencies against a colleague for reasons of personal gain.

    Early in any collaborative research process, we shall discuss questions of authorship, acknowledgments, and intellectual property rights (including rights to inventions and copyrights and issues of shared responsibility and decision-making about those rights) with African co-investigators and with cooperating graduate students and professionals. Issues of funding sources, project assistance, resources, and sponsorship also shall be fully explored with these colleagues. When the project or its outcomes are known to be for the profit of individuals, companies, or particular interests, we shall seek to make these publicly known to all involved in the project, and we shall attempt to ensure that the personal and private gains accrued are reasonable and fair. We agree to share all the materials collected in the course of the project with our collaborating colleagues in a timely manner.

    Similarly, we shall seek to notify our co-investigators whenever we develop plans to utilize project materials or findings for use in papers, conference presentations, or other published or public works. If, we publish the works of our collaborative research, we shall discuss publication plans fully and openly among collaborators and determine the appropriate authorship, citations, and acknowledgments. These will be discussed and agreed to both when we initiate writing projects and before submitting the written materials for external review or publication. In all publications, we shall seek to acknowledge the support, funding, and services of all grantors, cooperating African institutions and individuals, and, where relevant, Michigan State University.

    Before releasing project data or materials to scholars or institutions outside the research team, the principal investigators and other affected team members will agree on the terms of the permissions.

    Where our individual choices for personal expenditure of project funds will affect the resources available to African scholars and institutions, we shall seek to keep personal expenses at a reasonable level in order to increase funds available for research and for our African colleagues. To the extent possible, we shall seek to share equitably among collaborators the equipment and other materials purchased with project funds, in keeping with mutually agreed work plans specified in funded proposals.

  4. To our students, interns, or trainees: We owe non-discriminatory access to our training services. We shall provide training which is informed, accurate, and relevant to the needs of the larger society. We recognize the need for continuing education so as to maintain skills and knowledge at a high level. Training should inform students as to their ethical and legal responsibilities. Student contributions to our professional activities, including both research and publication, will be adequately recognized.

  5. To our employers and other sponsors: We owe accurate reporting of our qualifications and competent, efficient, and timely performance of the work we undertake for them. We shall provide a clear understanding with each employer or sponsor of the nature of our professional responsibilities. We shall report our research and other activities accurately. We have the obligation to attempt to prevent any distortion or suppression of research results or policy recommendations.

  6. To the African societies: We owe the benefit of our special knowledge and skills in interpreting the phenomena we study, while building on the relevant indigenous knowledge and experience. We are willing to communicate our understandings of the human, natural, and physical situation in which the African societies and nations are embedded and within which their interests will be affected. At the end of our projects, we shall ensure that participating African institutions have access to all publications and the data and materials collected, after we have provided for the full protection to the anonymity of any informants.

These guidelines for ethical conduct in research are designed as a framework for orienting members to the issues involved in research across cultures and nations and involving highly unequal access to means for conducting research. Ethical standards, guidelines, or codes issues by federal and local governments, universities, funding agencies, professional organizations, and other bodies with supervisory responsibility supersede the guidelines issued by the ASA.