Catalysis Professor's Open | Just another Aalto site

Advance info on OpenLearning site on Atomic Layer Deposition + request to recommend ALD reviews

1.11.2019

Advance info: On Nov 29, 2019, a new OpenLearning site is planned to open on atomic layer deposition (ALD) at the http://openlearning.aalto.fi platform. The site is meant to benefit the global ALD community and operate mostly in English; occasionally, the site may link to ALD learning materials on other languages. The site will grow with time and initially mainly link to contents that are already openly existing.

Among the materials to be created for the site is a (living) list of recommended reviews. According to the list created in the Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA, http://vph-ald.com*), link here (which continues lists published in 2005 in https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1940727 and in 2013 in https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4757907), over 200 reviews on ALD have been published. Two hundred reviews is obviously too many for any individual to read. A shorter list would be meaningful, skill keeping the full list easily accessible.

I welcome anyone globally, who sees the value of the initiative to field, to help build a list of recommended reviews. Please recommend reviews that you think would be useful to include, and provide a brief justification with your recommendation in your own words. Please recommend only reviews authored by others than yourself or your close relatives.** All recommendations are to be collected together in one place called recommended-ALD-reviews-evolving-file (it is a Google Docs file). This file will be a living document and have © Authors (all rights reserved); it thus NOT allowed to copy contents to third-party sites without explicit permission by the respective authors***.

The open learning site on ALD and recommended review list are both new initiatives. Hopefully the new learning site and materials can complement (not replace!) existing teaching materials and efforts and thereby help newcomers to enter the field of research and development in ALD.

Riikka Puurunen, Espoo, Finland November 1, 2019

* Although the website ends with .com, although there is nothing commercial there. Another ending (.org, .net, …) could have in hindsight been more desciptive of the contents.

** This follows the policy in use e.g. in Wikipedia of not proposing a wikipage for yourself – if it is important, someone else will propose it.

*** Of all authors for the whole document, or of the authors of the text in question for smaller parts.

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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Registration & webpage open! November Networking – ALD at Aalto University 29.11.2019

1.11.2019

Registration to November Networking – ALD at Aalto University is now open! Registration is made via a Webropol link: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/13250A53DDFF0ED7.

Also: November Networking – ALD at Aalto University has now a webpage! The event webpage is built as a “page” into Catalysis Professor’s Open blog: https://blogs.aalto.fi/catprofopen/ald-networking-nov-2019/.* Here, event-related info will in the future be collected and updated. You can find the registration link, too, via this webpage.

Registration deadlines:

For oral presentations, registration DL is 13.11.2019. Types of oral presentations: (i) research group presentation, (ii) company presentation, and (iii) 2-min pitch talk for a poster. Types i and ii have been agreed in advance with the people concerned; Type iii (2-min pitch talk for poster) is open for submissions by anyone interested. Time reserved Type i and ii presentations will depend on the number of presentations (less than 10 min, in any case) and will be communicated to the presenters as soon as possible after the registration closes. Title of your presentation is needed, to be included in the programme, which will be made publicly available via the event website. The slides of oral presentations need to be provided in advance to enable a smooth event.
For poster presentations (without 2-min pitch talk), registration DL is 25.11.2019. Poster size: A0. Title of your presentation is needed, to be included in the programme, which will be made publicly available via the event website.
For registrations without presentation, DL is 25.11.2019.

As the event is all about networking and meeting people, latecomers may also show up at the event (but if you did not register, you may be left without coffee etc).

Welcome! read more >>

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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Authorship as part of responsible conduct of research – TENK guideline

11.10.2019

Among the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK) is a “Guideline for agreeing on authorship. Recommendation for research publications“, dated 14.12.2017. The TENK guidelines are collected in https://tenk.fi/en/tenk-guidelines, direct link to the authorship guideline is: https://www.tenk.fi/sites/tenk.fi/files/TENK_suositus_tekijyys.pdf. I recommend that all doctoral students (and postdocs, and others!) read the TENK guideline at least once through. Some of the headings of the report include:

What is authorship in research publications?
Authorship comes with a responsibility for the content
Authorship is not related to the employment contract
Authorship of a dissertation

The guideline also contains a description of terms associated with authorship and its disregard. The following terms are included:

Acknowledgements, Conflicts of interest, Contributorship and other responsibilities, Copyright, Corresponding author, Disregard for the responsible conduct of research, Editing, Ghost author, ghostwriter, Guarantor, Honorary/guest/gift authorship, Label for peer-reviewed scholarly publications, Medical writer, Misappropriation, Misconduct, Open collaborative authorship, Order of authors, Plagiarism, Predatory publications, RCR, responsible conduct of research, Self-plagiarism, Substantial contribution.

(From the guideline; bolding is by the blog author.) “The Finnish National Board on research Integrity TENK is informed of all notifications of violations of the responsible conduct of research (RCR) in Finland. In recent years, authorship disputes have increased in Finland and worldwide. Disputes should be resolved before the manuscript is submitted for publication as in the worst case they lead to an investigation into violation of the responsible conduct of research (RCR). The disputes that arise are often linked to incorrect expectations and poor or non-existent communication between the members of a research project. It is difficult to resolve these disputes later if the authors of the research publication were not agreed in advance. The aim of this recommendation is to facilitate discussion of authorship.
read more >>

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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Save the date! November Networking – ALD at Aalto University, 29.11.2019

10.10.2019

November Networking – ALD at Aalto University

Event in a nutshell:

When? Friday, November 29, 2019, at 12-17
Where? Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering, Kemistintie 1, Espoo, lecture hall Ke1 and the downstairs lobby
Who? ALD-active/interested persons in and outside Aalto University. We expect ca. 40-100 participants
What? Short introduction to ALD, international guest speaker, 10+ introductions of ALD-active groups, scientific posters and related 2-min pitch talks, company presentations. Coffee and networking
How? Compactly! We have one afternoon reserved with many talks planned, meaning that we need to design the programme so that the individual talks are short and networking time is sufficient. For the speakers, we will offer the possibility that we (try to) capture their lecture with Panopto for (optional) later sharing. Example of a Panopto lecture capture here
How much does it cost? Event is free to attend; registration is recommended

Tentative presenters:

International guest speaker: Prof. Ruud van Ommen, TU Delft, Netherlands
Group presentations by 10+ groups. Currently plan (alphabetical order): Dr. Miguel Caro, Prof. Sami Franssila, Prof. Tanja Kallio, Prof. Maarit Karppinen, Prof. Antti Karttunen, Prof. Jari Koskinen, Prof. Kari Laasonen, Prof. Riikka Puurunen, Prof. Robin Ras, Prof. Mikko Ritala & Prof. Matti Putkonen, Prof. Timo Sajavaara, Prof. Hele Savin, Prof. Ville Vuorinen, M.Sc. Oili Ylivaara; from Aalto University, University of Helsinki and University of Jyväskylä. More are still welcome
Doctoral students, postdocs and other scientists from Aalto University and beyond are invited to bring posters (new or recent recycled) and to give related 2-min pitch talks
Company presentations by ASM, Beneq and Picosun (companies active with ALD in Finland and globally)
Short introduction to atomic layer deposition (ALD) by Prof. Riikka Puurunen
Welcome address by the Dean of Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering, Kristiina Kruus

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) – TENK guidelines

10.10.2019

In the previous recent posts, I introduced TENK, the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (post 1), overviewed their resolutions for alleged misconducts in past three annual reports (post 2, post 3, post 4), introduced the Retraction Watch (post 5), and, most recently, and blogged about plagiarism: “‘hands up for mistake, we were idiots’ – some words on plagiarism” (post 6). This post re-shares TENK’s numbered list of guidelines of how to conduct research responsibly. The list is directly copied from the TENK document that binds us making academic research in Finland, https://tenk.fi/sites/tenk.fi/files/HTK_ohje_2012.pdf. Each doctoral student, for example, should be aware of these – and, of course, academic personnel, too.

(From the TENK document, HTK-ohje 2012 From the point of view of research integrity, the premises for the responsible conduct of research are the following:

1. The research follows the principles that are endorsed by the research community, that is, integrity, meticulousness, and accuracy in conducting research, and in recording, presenting, and evaluating the research results.

2. The methods applied for data acquisition as well as for research and evaluation, conform to scientific criteria and are ethically sustainable. When publishing the research results, the results are communicated in an open and responsible fashion that is intrinsic to the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

3. The researcher takes due account of the work and achievements of other researchers by respecting their work, citing their publications appropriately, and by giving their achievements the credit and weight they deserve in carrying out the researcher’s own research and publishing its results. read more >>

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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“Hands up for mistake, we were idiots” – Some words on plagiarism

8.10.2019

In the previous posts (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5) related to research ethics, plagiarism was mentioned many times as a form of research misconduct. Plagiarism is among the “big three” in the international categorisation of research misconduct: Fabrication, Falsification, Plagiarism (FFP). Post 2 shared (at title level) several TENK cases resolved in 2018, where plagiarism was found in Master’s/Pro Gradu theses and in a scientific article; post 4 similarly shared TENK cases where plagiarism and self-plagiarism was found in doctoral theses. In this post, I want to discuss plagiarism – with students, with national and international colleagues in the scientific world, and – basically – with anyone interested.

Plagiarism, in my view, is like stealing – in scientific texts typically of words/thoughts, and sometimes images or other creative concepts. It is done without citing/properly attributing the original source. These days, plagiarizing is easy for the one who wishes to do it: electronically copy-paste from a source, and use it in your own work without acknowledging the source – done in seconds or minutes. Writing original text (and creating images, etc) is much more laborious and time-consuming. read more >>

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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Retraction watch – site on research integrity issues

7.10.2019

Following a series of posts on the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4), this post shares information on a useful source of information related to research misconduct worldwide: Retraction Watch, https://retractionwatch.com/.

As reported in Wikipedia (accessed 7.10.2019), Retraction Watch is a blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers and on related topics, set up to increase the transparency of the retraction process. The rationale when launching the blog in 2010 was that “retractions of papers generally are not announced, and the reasons for retractions are not publicized. One result is that other researchers or the public who are unaware of the retraction may make decisions based on invalid results.”

New cases are regularly reported in the Retraction Watch webpage and Twitter. read more >>

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK – Annual Report 2016

7.10.2019

As a continuation of the previous posts (post 1, post 2, post 3) this post overviews the Annual Report of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK, year 2016, related to misconducts in responsible conduct of research (RCR). The titles of the report’s Section 3, Handling of allegations of RCR misconduct, are repeated here. More detailed information on the anonymised case and statement descriptions can be found in the original report: https://www.tenk.fi/sites/tenk.fi/files/TENK_annual_report_2016.pdf. Non-anonymized information can be further requested from TENK.

3.2. Verified RCR Violations at Research Organisations

Case 1: Plagiarism led to the rewriting of a thesis
Case 2: Supervisors used students’ material as their own in an article
Case 3: One of the authors of an original article was omitted from the translation of the article

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

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Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK – Annual Report 2017

7.10.2019

As a continuation of the previous posts (post 1, post 2) this post overviews the Annual Report of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK, year 2017, related to misconducts in responsible conduct of research (RCR). The titles of the report’s Section 3, Handling of allegations of RCR misconduct, are repeated here. More detailed information on the anonymised case and statement descriptions can be found in the original report: https://www.tenk.fi/sites/tenk.fi/files/TENK_annual_report_2017.pdf. Non-anonymized information can be further requested from TENK.

3.2. Verified RCR Violations at Research Organisations

Case 1: Information security leak suspected by the media turned out to be plagiarism
Case 2: Unauthorised borrowing over many years by a teacher of a university of applied sciences lead to a serious warning
Case 3: RCR violation in the grant application of a postgraduate university student
Case 4: Self-plagiarism identified in an articlebased doctoral dissertation shortly before the public examination
Case 5: Plagiarism and self-plagiarism suspected in a doctoral dissertation suspended the doctoral examination process

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

ethics - Comments Off

Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK – Annual Report 2018

7.10.2019

As a continuation of the previous post, this post overviews the Annual Report of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK, year 2018, related to misconducts in responsible conduct of research (RCR). The titles of the report’s Section 3, Handling of allegations of RCR misconduct, are repeated here. More detailed information on the anonymised case and statement descriptions can be found in the original report: https://www.tenk.fi/sites/tenk.fi/files/TENK_Annual_Report_2018.pdf. Non-anonymized information can be further requested from TENK.

3.2. Verified RCR Violations at Research Organisations

Case 1: Negligent anonymisation of research subjects showed disregard for responsible conduct of research
Case 2: Suspected plagiarism in a professionally oriented licentiate thesis was not considered as misconduct
Case 3: University researchers disregarded the RCR by failing to identify the designers of a figure
Case 4: Some members of a research group disregarded the RCR by publishing common results under their own name
Case 5: Deficiencies in the referencing practices of a Pro gradu thesis considered an RCR violation
Case 6: Member of a research group guilty of disregard; published the group’s results under their own name
Case 7: Plagiarism in a pro gradu thesis more extensive than what was initially suspected
Case 8: Submitting a joint article to the publisher without consent from the other authors was considered disregard for the RCR
Case 9: Publishing the results of a joint article in another article both plagiarism and self-plagiarism
Case 10: References of another thesis to original sources used in a Pro gradu thesis
Case 11: Plagiarism found in a Pro gradu thesis
Cases 12–18 were all cases of plagiarism found in Master’s theses in universities of applied sciences

Posted by Riikka Puurunen

Associate professor, Catalysis Science and Technology, at Aalto since February 2017

ethics - Comments Off