Luxembourg’s approach to research integrity during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of research from its routine marathon to a sprint, and this can increase the risk of both human error (mistakes) as well as research misconduct. In an effort to save time, researchers can be tempted to “cut corners”, discount ethical complexity, or use methods and approaches that fall outside of good research practice. Ethically, it is vital that research outputs during a pandemic be robust because clinical decision-making may reflect on these research results. Luxembourg, while a small European nation, is known for its well-ranked global research and innovation. Accordingly, Luxembourg’s national organization for research integrity has taken several proactive measures to help researchers nationally and globally, foster robust research. This paper reports on these measures and encourages other nations to similarly assist the research community.