During the plenary meeting held on 17 June 2024, members of the Committee on Ethics in Science (CEiS) reviewed, among other matters, the response from the Council of Scientific Excellence concerning its draft proposal to amend the Act on Higher Education and Science. One of the issues discussed was the question of whether the habilitation of a wife at a faculty where her husband serves as head is consistent with ethical standards in science.

The Chair of CEiS appointed an adjudicating panel to examine a case involving the possible violation of the principles of research ethics, intellectual property rights, scientific integrity, and the falsification of information in a scientific publication by a member of the academic staff at a university.

CEiS adopted the opinions of adjudicating panels on the following matters:

1. An assessment of whether a certain professor met the requirement of membership in a scientific institution, particularly whether the person in question maintained an unblemished reputation and adhered to the principles of scientific ethics.

2. An evaluation of whether, during a habilitation procedure conducted at an arts university, the candidate appropriated authorship of parts of someone else’s work or misrepresented the authorship of all or parts of another’s work or artistic performance.

The Committee also revisited the following cases:

1. A matter concerning the “Possible abuse of authority, failure to fulfill official duties, and a disciplinary offence committed by the Rector of a university.”

2. A case of “Public defamation and violation of personal rights of a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences by the President of the Academy during internal meetings of Academy bodies.”

CEiS reviewed further correspondence regarding a suspected case of plagiarism in an article published by two academic staff members of a university. A subsequent request from the Disciplinary Committee of a technical university was also noted, asking for an opinion on whether a female academic staff member had violated copyright law.

Prof. P. Łuków, Chair of the Team for the Amendment of the Code of Ethics for Academic Researchers, reported on the current results of the team’s work.

Dr hab. R. Sławeta presented an updated version of the report analyzing CEiS cases from the years 2019–2023.