This Code sets out the guidelines and procedures for good research practices adopted by the researchers of the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP) concerning their teams or third-party collaborators regarding research ethics, safeguards comprising vulnerable populations, transparency, and anti-corruption measures.

CHAPTER I

Research ethics

Article 1 – CEBRAP seeks to meet the following ethical guidelines when pursuing its research goals:

I – intellectual honesty.

II – transparency and protection of privacy.

III – integrity.

IV – social and scientific responsibility.

V – equity in work and employee relations.

VI – respect for the country’s legislation.

VII – consistency with the codes of research ethics established by the country’s leading scientific institutions.

Sole paragraph. Additional guidelines and policies can be applied to particular projects, as long as approved by the President of CEBRAP.

Article 2 – We understand as scientific misconduct:

I – to artificially manufacture research data or conclusions that have not taken place.

II – to falsify data or conclusions, misleadingly presenting research results.

III – to plagiarize ideas or formulations, concealing the proper credit that would identify their original researcher.

IV – to disregard legislation and other definitions of best practices laid out in this document.

Article 3 – The research coordinator’s responsibility is to ensure their research to be in full compliance with research ethics guidelines.

§1. Any research conducted by CEBRAP’s members shall fully comply with the provisions laid out in this Code according to the Good Research Practice Form presented at the end. Therefore, any research containing the items laid out in the Form as “fully covered” shall be deemed appropriate after the research coordinator’s approval statement.

§2. In case a research is deemed as “partially covered” or “not covered,” a justification regarding the non-compliant items shall be drafted in the Form.

§3. A committee or reviewer appointed by the Scientific Coordinator of CEBRAP shall assess such justification. They may consider the adopted procedures to be sufficient or request new procedures to solve the issue, as often as necessary, until there is a final opinion attesting full compliance with this Code.

Article 4 – CEBRAP vows to make the results of their research public, as long as it does not involve violating any contractual confidentiality clauses, data protection, and the right to privacy.

Sole paragraph. It is the research’s coordinator’s attribution to ensure that data collection and storage are compliant with the Brazilian General Data Protection Law.

Article 5 – CEBRAP adopts the best open science practices and grants full access to its results through its Virtual Library or in a partner’s content database.

CHAPTER II

 Safeguards concerning vulnerable populations and social groups

Article 6 – No research conducted by CEBRAP, nor any of the institution’s contracts shall violate people’s and social groups’ rights, especially vulnerable populations.

§1. We understand vulnerable populations to be those who are not able to give informed consent and therefore cannot protect themselves against any material or irreversible damage, such as violence, exploitation, or discrimination – be it because of their age, sexual preference, ethnicity, race, gender, physical or mental disabilities that somehow have reduced their full comprehension of partaking any research.

§2. Vulnerability can also arise from particular situations, such as those experienced by migrants who are still unfamiliar with the country’s language, culture, and procedures.

Article 7 – Economic and labor relations between CEBRAP’s suppliers and collaborators, including all types of outsourced services and relations among researchers, scholarship holders, and other non-employment ties, shall be guided by non-discriminatory policies of race, gender, or vulnerability.

Article 8 – People responsible for events and other activities promoted by CEBRAP shall make a continuous effort to take inclusive measures that enable accessibility, operational adjustments, and proper material and language according to the needs of vulnerable people and groups or those with special needs.

Sole paragraph. This article’s provisions comprise the ongoing improvement of accessibility to CEBRAP’s headquarters.

CHAPTER III

Transparency measures and anti-corruption practices

Article 9 – No research carried out at CEBRAP, nor any contract signed by the institution shall comprise corrupt practices.

Sole paragraph. Corruption is understood here as any received undue advantage, or any expectation of future advantages due to the misuse of the power entrusted to any professional for their own benefit or to the benefit of third parties, whether or not it harms national or foreign public assets.

Article 10 – It is up to the administrative director of CEBRAP to maintain the administrative, accounting, and tax records used to manage the institution’s contracts.

Article 11 – An independent and sovereign Fiscal Board shall audit and analyze CEBRAP’s accounts under its Bylaws. The results of these audits will be regularly disclosed on CEBRAP’s website.

CHAPTER IV

 Code of practice

Article 12 – Complaints involving any infraction provided for in this Code must be forwarded to CEBRAP’s Ombudsman, with the right to anonymity of the whistleblower guaranteed during the said complaint processing.

§1. CEBRAP’s Ombudsman shall be an outside person chosen by the Executive Board for a two-year term.

§2. The Ombudsman shall answer all complaints without distinction. When applicable, they will name two Executive Board members to prepare a report about the complaint, observing any conflicts of interest between the plaintiff and people involved in such a process.

Article 13 – The Executive Board is responsible for:

I – promoting the culture of best practices listed here to all of its researchers and outside collaborators through its wide dissemination, institutional advice, and everyday practice.

II – condemning and punishing any improper conduct.

§1. It will be up to the Executive Board – summoned with at least one week’s advance and guided by such report – to decide if the complaint is real and assign the responsibility to whoever caused it, by the majority of the present votes’ members.

§2. The Executive Board may suspend the researcher responsible for scientific misconduct for a period to be determined according to the case’s seriousness, or recommend the Members’ Association they be removed from CEBRAP’s research activities.

§3. Any appeal to the Members’ Association shall be assessed within fifteen days, which may, by most votes of the members present, maintain or reduce the suspension time, and, whenever deemed appropriate, decide on dismissing such collaborators.

Article 14 – This Code shall be made public, and contracts with suppliers and service providers shall henceforth comprise its understanding and agreement with such guidelines, under penalty of being removed from the list of suppliers and service providers, especially concerning the articles laid out in Chapters 2 and 3.

Article 15 – Any cases and situations not foreseen by this Code shall be analyzed by the institution’s Scientific Coordinator, who shall forward a proposal on dealing with them to the appropriate body, according to CEBRAP’s Bylaws.

Link to the Good Research Practice Form.

Professor Dr. Michelle Ratton Sanchez Badin

ouvidoria@cebrap.org.br

Assistant professor at FGV São Paulo School of Law (Brazil), and its Law and Development postgraduate program. Coordinator of FGV/SP Center of Global Law and Development. Co-coordinator of the WTO Chair in Brazil. Current director of the Red Latinoamericana de Derecho Económico Internacional and of the Brazilian chapter of the International Law Association, and founding member of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL).

She has a Ph.D. from the Law School of the University of São Paulo (USP). She was visiting scholar at the International Law Section of the Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS), in Geneva, Switzerland (2001), and Global Crystal Eastman Fellow of the Global Law Program at the Univeristy of New York (2007).

Strada Comunicação – comunicacao@cebrap.org.br

Adilza Santos Almeida – adilza@cebrap.org.br

Genival Santos da Silva

Joyce de Souza Gaviolli – joyce@cebrap.org.br

Kelly Almeida – Kelly@cebrap.org.br

Sandra Matos – Sandra.matos@cebrap.org.br

Oneida Maria Borges – oneida@cebrap.org.br

Y2 Studio – https://www.y2studio.com.br

Maria Herminia Tavares de Almeida, coordinator
Vera Schattan, co-coordinator

About the Program – https://cebrap.org.br/ipp/

Renata Ribeiro Francisco, editora

Eduardo Marinho, editor-assistente – novosestudos@cebrap.org.br