Excellence, integrity, and honesty in all aspects of research

Personal accountability in the conduct of research and the dissemination of the results

Professional courtesy, equity, and fairness in working with other

Freedom to responsibly pursue science without interference or coercion

Unselfish cooperation in research

Good stewardship of research and data on behalf of others

Legal compliance in all aspects of research, including intellectual property

Humane approach in evaluating the implications of research on humans and animals

1. Integrity: Members will act with honesty in the interest of the advancement of science, take full responsibility for the trustworthiness of their research and its dissemination, and treat others with courtesy, equity, and fairness.

2. Adherence to Law and Regulations: Members will be aware of and adhere to laws and regulations related to the professional conduct of research; and to professional ethics, scientific integrity, and law and policy related to discrimination, harassment, and bullying.

3. Research Methods: Members will employ research methods to the best of their understanding and ability, base conclusions on critical analysis of the evidence, and report findings and interpretations fully, accurately, and objectively, including characterization of uncertainties.

4. Research Records: Members will maintain clear, accurate records of research in ways that will allow verification and replication of their work by others.

5. Research Findings: Members will share data and findings openly and promptly, as soon as they have had an opportunity to establish intellectual property rights, if appropriate. Members will respect the intellectual property rights of others and follow best practices for data management, accessibility, and preservation.

6. Responsibility: Members will take responsibility for the integrity of their contributions to all publications, funding applications, reports, and other representations of their research. Author credit should be given only to those who have made meaningful contributions to publications.

7. Acknowledgment: Members will acknowledge the names and roles of those who made significant contributions (such as ideas and scientific discussion) to the research.

8. Peer Review: Members will adhere to professional review standards and provide fair, impartial, prompt, and rigorous evaluations and will respect confidentiality when reviewing others’ work. Members will welcome constructive criticism and be responsive to peer review.

9. Conflict of Interest: Members will disclose financial, personal, professional, and other conflicts of interest that could compromise the trustworthiness of their work on SSA committees, publications, research proposals, meeting presentations, and public communications as well as in all SSA honors and awards activities.

10. Public Communication: Members, when representing SSA, will limit professional comments to their areas of scholarly expertise when engaged in public discussions about the application and importance of research findings and will clearly distinguish professional comments from their opinions based on personal views.

11. Reporting Irresponsible Research Practices: Members will take responsibility to act or intercede where possible to prevent scientific misconduct. Scientific misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, discrimination, harassment, bullying, or other irresponsible research practices that undermine the trustworthiness of research and a professional environment for the conduct of research

12. Environment: SSA members are responsible for creating and upholding a safe, open, and professional environment for learning, conducting, and communicating science with integrity, respect, fairness, trustworthiness, and transparency at all organizational levels and in all scientific endeavors.

13. Misconduct: SSA members will not engage in discrimination, harassment, bullying, dishonesty, fraud, mis- representation, coercive manipulation, censorship, or other misconduct that alters the content, veracity, or meaning of research findings or that may affect the planning, conduct, reporting, or application of science. This applies to all professional, research, and learning environments. An expanded discussion of this topic appears below.

14. Societal Considerations: Members have an ethical obligation to weigh the societal benefits of their research against the costs and risks to human and animal welfare, heritage sites, or other potential impacts on the environment and society. Members need to be aware of legal requirements in this area.

15. Stewardship of the Earth: Members have an ethical obligation to responsibly, accurately, and clearly inform the public about natural resources, hazards, and other geoscience phenomena of importance to the well-being of Earth and society.

The relationship between a student and the student advisor is a unique one in the research environment. This relationship carries extra demands for ethical behavior.  Key principles include areas of sensitivity and concern such as these recommendations for student advisors:

• promote an environment that is intellectually stimulating and free of harassment;

• be supportive, equitable, accessible, encouraging, and respectful;

• recognize and respect the cultural backgrounds of students;

• be sensitive to the power imbalance in the student–advisor relationship;

Students and student advisors are encouraged to be aware of responsibilities of the advisor, the student, and the institution in these special circumstances.

SSA members work to maintain an environment that allows science and scientific careers to flourish through respectful, inclusive, and equitable treatment of others. As a statement of principle, SSA rejects discrimination and harassment by any means, based on factors such as ethnic or national origin, race, religion, citizenship, language, political or other opinion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, age, or economic class. In addition, SSA opposes all forms of bullying including threatening, humiliating, coercive, or intimidating conduct that causes harm to, interferes with, or sabotages scientific activity and careers. Discrimination, harassment (in any form), and bullying create a hostile environment that reduces the quality, integrity, and pace of the advancement of science by marginalizing individuals and communities. It also damages productivity and career advancement, and prevents the healthy exchange of ideas.

We affirm that discrimination, harassment (including sexual harassment), or bullying in any scientific or learning environment is unacceptable, and constitutes scientific misconduct. Such behavior should be reported and addressed with consequences for the offender.

Discrimination means unequal or unfair treatment in professional opportunities, education, benefits, evaluation, and employment (such as hiring, termination, promotion, compensation) as well as retaliation and various types of harass- ment. Discriminatory practices can be explicit or implicit, intentional, or unconscious.

Harassment is a type of discrimination that consists of a single intense and severe act, or of multiple persistent or pervasive acts, which are unwanted, unwelcome, demeaning, abusive, or offensive. Offensive conduct constitutes harassment when 1) it becomes a condition of an opportunity, education, benefit, evaluation, or employment or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work or educational environment that most people would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. These acts may include epithets, slurs, or negative stereotyping based on gender, race, sexual identity, or other categories, as protected by U.S. federal law. Also included are threatening, intimidating, or hostile acts; denigrating jokes and displays; or circulation of written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or a group.

Sexual harassment includes any unwanted and/or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others in the professional environment that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. These actions can include abusive criticism, humiliation, the spreading of rumors, physical and verbal attacks, isolation, undermining, and professional exclusion of individuals through any means.* 

* Microaggression is another term sometimes used in describing unwelcomed behavior against underrepresented groups. Psychologists have defined microaggression as brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership.