Asian J Beauty Cosmetol. 2014; 12(1): 3-7.

Series10. Social Responsibility of Researcher

The domain of social responsibility of researcher is one of core areas of RCR instruction. In general, researchers have both individual and social responsibility. The former is related with honestly observing, recording and interpreting aspects of the data, using experimental methods to ensure objectivity, the honest use of ideas of others. and respect for human participants and animal care in one’s research. The latter is related with expressing researcher’s responsibilities to society in many other ways such as choosing an research project that will likely provide important information for the good of society, alerting society to the benefits and harms of the outcomes of studies in progress, to participate in the discussion of ethical issues that arise from a discovery and to help educate the public and policy makers about these issues that may arise from the discovery. According to Singapore Statement on Research Integrity(2010), researcher’s social responsibilities include two dimensions. One is that researchers should limit professional comments to their recognized expertise when engaged in public discussions about the application and importance of research findings and clearly distinguish professional comments from opinions based on personal views. The other is that researchers and research institutions should recognize that they have an ethical obligations to weigh societal benefits against risks inherent in their work. I discussed two ways in which researchers can exercise their responsibilities to society such as conflicts of interest and expert’s witness.

Keywords : Researcher, Social responsibility of researcher, Conflicts of interest, Expert’s witness, Singapore statement on research integrity