Ethical Arctic Research Practices

Research Planning
1. Were any permits required for your research?
2. Was there a code of conduct for the research team decided upon prior to beginning data collection?
3. Was institutional or local permission required for sampling?
4. What impact will your research have on local communities or nearby communities (meaning the nearest community within a 100 mile radius)?

Data Collection
5. Were any local community members involved at any point of the research process, including study site identification, sampling, camp setup, consultation or synthesis?
6. Were the sample sites near or on Indigenous land or communities?

Data Sharing and Publication
7. How were the following concerns accounted for: misrepresentation of results, misrepresentation of experience, plagiarism, improper authorship, or the falsification or data?
8. If this data is intended for publication, are authorship expectations clear for everyone involved?

Other professional ethics can be found here

Research Planning
1. Were there any cultural practices relevant to the study site? If yes, how were these practices accounted for by the research methodologies.

Data Collection
2. Did your research include the removal or artifacts?
3. Were there any contingencies made for the excavation and return of samples after cleaning, processing, and analysis?

Data Sharing and Publication
4. Were the samples deposited to a physical repository?
5. Were there any steps taken to account for looting threats? Please explain why or why not?

Research Planning
1. Please describe the institutional IRB approval that was required for this research.
2. Was any knowledge provided by community members?

Data Collection
3. Did participants receive compensation for their participation?
4. Were decolonization methods used?

Data Sharing and Publication
5. Have you shared this data with the community or participants involved?

Research Planning
1. Were any of the study sites or species under federal or local protection?

Data Collection
2. Were endangered, threatened, or otherwise special-status species collected?
3. How were samples collected? Please describe any handling practices used to collect data.
4. What safety measures were in place to keep researchers, research assistants, technicians, etc., out of harms way during research?
5. How were animal care procedures evaluated, and do they follow community norms for organismal care?

Data Sharing and Publication
6. Did the species or study area represent any cultural importance to local communities, or include culturally sensitive information? Please explain how you came to this conclusion and how any cultural sensitivity was accounted for.

Research Planning
1. Was any knowledge provided by community members, including information regarding the study site?

Data Collection
2. What safety measures were in place to keep researchers, research assistants, technicians, etc., out of harms way during research?
3. Were there any impacts to the environment/habitat before, during or after data collection?

Data Sharing and Publication
4. Is there any sensitive information including information on sensitive sites, valuable samples, or culturally sensitive information?

Research Planning
1. Were any of the study sites protected under local or federal regulation?
2. Was any knowledge provided by nearby community members, including information regarding the study site?

Data Collection
3. Did sample collection result in erosion of soil or other physical damage? If so, how was this addressed?
4. What safety measures were in place to keep researchers, research assistants, technicians, etc., out of harms way during research?

Data Sharing and Publication
5. Do any of the study sites or specimens represent culturally sensitive areas or species? Please explain how you came to this conclusion, and if yes, how was this accounted for?

Research Planning
1. Were any land permits required for this research?

Data Collection
2. Were any data collected using citizen science or community participation?
3. If yes, were community members compensated for their time and made aware of their data being used and for what purpose?

Data Sharing and Publication
4. If data were ground-truthed, was institutional or local permissions required and/or obtained for land/property access?
5. Have you shared this data with the community or participants involved?
6. If location sensitive data was obtained (endangered/threatened flora & fauna location, archaeological and historical sites, identifiable ships, sensitive spatial information), how were the data desensitized?

Research Planning
1. Were any permits required for data sampling?

Data Collection
2. Were endangered, threatened, or otherwise special-status plants or animal species collected?
3. How were samples collected? Please describe any handling practices used to collect data.
4. What safety measures were in place to keep researchers, research assistants, technicians, etc., out of harms way during research?
5. How were animal care procedures evaluated, and do they follow community norms for organismal care?

Data Sharing and Publication
6. Do any of the study sites or specimens represent culturally sensitive areas or species? Please explain how you came to this conclusion, and if yes, how was this accounted for?