Ensuring Effectiveness and Credibility: The Conceptual Foundation of the PREPARED Code

Abstract

This chapter explains the conceptual foundations of the PREPARED Code, which together provide the credibility required to justify adding yet another ethics code to the thousands that already exist. The code is built on real-world risks identified in nine languages rather than, for instance, on drafters’ expertise, thereby making it as precisely honed an instrument as possible to cope with the real-world ethics and integrity challenges experienced during a pandemic. The code is values-driven, focused on the values of fairness, respect, care and honesty, to harness the motivational power of moral values and to provide an easily understandable, globally applicable moral framework. Unlike most other ethics codes, the PREPARED Code unites research ethics and research integrity guidance into one, to ensure that a culture of integrity rather than a box-ticking mentality is fostered. The short, jargon-free code text addresses all research disciplines and, most importantly, it is based on extensive input from a wide range of stakeholders, including highly marginalised populations, to ensure that it is fit for purpose.