Members of the International Communication (ICA) are expected to
uphold the highest ethical standards in all aspects of scholarship, research,
and professional practice.
ICA General Statement on Standards
We affirm our commitment to widely recognized ethical principles, including, but
not limited to, standards regarding:
- scholarly and scientific integrity,
- protection of the rights of research participants, associates, and sponsors,
- plagiarism and authorship credit,
- publication of methods and findings,
- disclosure of potential conflicts of interest,
- scholarly evaluation, criticism, and debate,
- nondiscrimination and respect for human diversity, and
- social responsibility.
While affirming our commitment to such widely recognized broad principles, ICA
has not established a comprehensive code of professional practice providing
detailed guidelines on ethical issues. Given the interdisciplinary diversity of
research encompassed by ICA, a comprehensive code of ethics for ICA that would
address this range of research methods and scholarly approaches would be
cumbersome. Not only the interdisciplinary diversity of ICA, but also our
international diversity, requires some caution in the specific application of
broad ethical principles. Ethical guidelines, which should be sensitive to
institutional, legal, and cultural contexts that may vary among nations and
regions, are sometimes best negotiated within national or regional
organizations.
As is necessary and appropriate, however, ICA will continue to establish
detailed ethical policies on matters specific to our organization, such as ICA
publications and conferences. Such guidelines will continue be published in the
ICA Publications Manual, the annual conference call for papers, and other
relevant places.
Regional, National and Disciplinary Standards
With regard to ethical questions not specifically covered by ICA policies,
scholars affiliated with ICA are expected to adhere to the code of ethics of the
Communication Association within their own nation or region. If there is no
national or regional communication association that has a sufficiently detailed
code of ethics appropriate to their research methodology, scholars affiliated
with ICA are expected to adhere to such codes provided by international
disciplinary associations (e.g., the International Sociological Association). If
an appropriate or sufficiently detailed guide is not available internationally,
use of ethics guidelines from U.S. or other well-established national academic
disciplinary associations is expected.
ICA will maintain on its web site a directory of codes of research and
professional practice for reference by ICA members. Codes currently available
online include the following. Please send an email to
ICA with recommendations for other ethics codes.
Academy
of Management Code of Ethics
American Anthropological Association
American Historical Association
American Political Science Association
American Psychological Association
American Sociological Association
Association for Computing Machinery
(e.g., information systems research and design)
Australian Sociological Association
British
Psychological Association
British Sociological Association
Canadian Association of Journalists
Council of Science Editors
German Communication Association (DGPuK)
International Association of Business Communicators
International Sociological Association
National Communication Association
Public Relations Society of America
Sociological Research Online (British)
World Medical Association, Declaration of Helsinki
The Association of Internet Researchers
The Market Research Society
Barnardo's (children's charity)
Some Directories/Indexes:
Codes of Ethics Online
See, for example, list of media/journalism codes of ethics from many countries
Social Science Ethics: A Bibliography
Social Science Ethics and Guidelines: Online Directory
