Disentangling the local context—imagined communities and researchers’ sense of belonging

Serge Pascal Johannes M Horbach*, Mads P. Sørensen, Nick Allum, Abigail-Kate Reid

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

It is generally agreed that researchers’ ‘local context’ matters to the successful implementation of research integrity policies. However, it often remains unclear what the relevant local context is. Is it the institutions and immediate working surroundings of researchers? Or, do we need to pay more attention to researchers’ epistemic communities if we want to understand their ‘local context’? In this paper, we examine this question by using the International Research Integrity Survey with more than 60,000 respondents. Survey responses indicate that academics identify with both their geographical local units (‘polis’) and their more transnational epistemic or scholarly communities (‘cosmos’). Identification with scholarly communities tends to be strongest. We embed the survey results in the academic literature by proposing a theoretical understanding of academics’ ‘local context’ based on Beck’s notion of cosmopolitanism and Durkheim’s concept of solidarity. We conclude with considerations on how to successfully implement research integrity policies.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberscad017
JournalScience and Public Policy
Volume50
Issue4
Pages (from-to)695-706
Number of pages12
ISSN0302-3427
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2023

Keywords

  • academic identity
  • academic solidarity
  • policy implementation
  • research community
  • research integrity

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