Ethics : Freedom and independence of research

The principles to be observed by academic members of the Paris School of Economics Foundation, hereinafter referred to as “members”, are as follows:

General principles of research funding and concurrent employment

Almost all PSE members are employed mainly by public higher education and research establishments and organisations. As such, and with regard to any ancillary remuneration, they must comply with the regulations of the civil service concerning multiple employment.

In addition, each member undertakes to declare to the Foundation’s management any source of ancillary remuneration in excess of €5,000, and to specify for each of them where this remuneration falls within the following two ranges: (i) from €5,000 to €25,000 per annum, (ii) more than €25,000 per annum.

PSE members also undertake to fill in a declaration of interests, according to a common template, to publish it on their personal page on the PSE website, and to update it as soon as necessary and at least once a year. This declaration of interests must include :

• remunerated ancillary activities (excluding royalties) in excess of €5,000 in any one year over the last three years;
• their membership of the governing bodies of political parties, trade unions and associations and their membership of company boards or boards of directors, where there is a risk of interference with their research or position statements mentioning their affiliation with PSE ;
• their other consultancy activities, if there is a risk of interference with their research or position papers mentioning their affiliation with PSE.

For its part, the Foundation’s management undertakes not to make any public use of this information, but to check regularly that it is actually available on its members’ pages.

Working papers and scientific publications

With regard to documents and publications showing the researcher’s affiliation with the Paris School of Economics, the following principles must be applied:

• The sources of funding, other than the main employer and the Foundation, for the corresponding research must be explicitly stated.
• The identity of organisations that have paid remuneration in cash or in kind to the associated researcher, or one of their co-authors, and that have any interest whatsoever (financial, ideological or political) in relation to the issues dealt with in the working paper or publication must be mentioned if the remuneration exceeds €10,000 over the previous three years.
• The researchers must indicate any positions held by them or one of their coauthors in non-profit organisations and associations whose purpose is related to the working paper or publication.
• They must also indicate whether the working document or publication has been authorised for distribution by a funding or data provider.

In accordance with the same principle of transparency, the Paris School of Economics Foundation undertakes to publish and keep up to date on its website the list of contributors to its endowment, as well as the exact composition of its Board of Directors.

In the same way, each year it will publish a list of contractual funding and research grants in excess of €10,000 received under research contracts, consultancies or company chairs, specifying for each of them the nature of the research or services provided.

The funding of a particular PSE Foundation research programme by a private organisation in no way prejudges the conclusions that the corresponding work will lead to.

Any contribution to the endowment of the Foundation will only be accepted if it respects the same principle of non-interference by the donor in the research programmes of the Paris School of Economics and the conclusions reached by its researchers.

All research undertaken at the Paris School of Economics is eligible for publication in scientific journals, regardless of how it is funded. In the case of research using confidential data, an ex-ante agreement may be reached with the data provider regarding the publication deadline. However, this period may not exceed two years after the results of the research have been communicated.

The Paris School of Economics undertakes to remind its associate and affiliate members of their obligations in terms of transparency and to take appropriate measures in the event of non-compliance with these obligations.

Given its size and the variety of thematic areas covered by its researchers, PSE aims to develop a diversified range of Chairs, taking care to maintain as much as possible a certain balance among them in terms of themes and partners (notably public/private).

The primary objective of a Chair is to promote research at the frontiers of knowledge, and the dissemination and sharing of knowledge on a theme defined by PSE researchers.

In contrast to expert appraisal or consultancy missions, which would respond to a request from a partner, the creation of a research Chair is proposed to partners by PSE researchers, who design the scientific project.

The purpose of the Chair is to fund the specific research work and activities defined by its program:

• Scientific events (research seminars, international conferences, thematic workshops) targeting an academic audience and expert professionals.
• Events for the general public (conferences, round tables).
• Invitations of researchers who also contribute to the activities of the Chair (events, teaching).
• Master’s and doctoral courses taught by the Chair’s affiliated members, as decided by the program directors.
• Funding of doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships on topics defined by PSE and the Chair’s partners.
• Executive Education.
• Publication of policy briefs to enhance the value of research work and make it available to a wide audience of consumers of economic knowledge.
• Exchanges with partners (working meetings between academic teams and professionals).

PSE researchers who hold or are affiliated with a Chair are completely free to choose their research topics, methodology and scientific collaborations, in accordance with the PSE ethical charter.

All the results of the research projects, including the results of any collaboration between researchers and partners of the Chair, are intended to be published in the form of research articles in international academic journals.

Nevertheless, and in circumstances accepted by the Parties, either Party may wish to defer the communication of results for a maximum period of three (3) months from the date of the request by the diligent Party.

Similarly, confidentiality clauses may apply to the publication of certain confidential data of the partners, without prejudice to the publication of the research results.

Publications shall include the following statement regarding their funding:
“This study has been funded by the “XXX” Chair of the Paris School of Economics. Its conclusions and the information it contains are however only binding on the author(s) and not on the Partners of the Chair. ”

The Ethics Committee is consulted before a partnership agreement is signed, on the basis of a draft agreement. All partnerships are evaluated in terms of their relevance to the scientific objectives of the Chair, as well as in terms of respect for the ethical values and image of PSE.