Legal aspects

The Friedrich Schiller University Jena offers various support and counselling services for legal issues. On this website you will find links to the relevant institutions and further information.

Supporting institutions of the university

Legal Office

The Legal Office de advises university staff on legal matters, including data protection issues and for example, drafts contracts and consent forms for study participants.

Ethics committees

The ethics committees with their volunteer experts are interprofessional bodies for the examination and self-regulation of research involving human subjects. They act in the interests and for the protection of test subjects and patients and are intended to protect them from legally and ethically questionable research projects. As a rule, such scientific work is only funded and published in scientific journals if it has been approved by an ethics committee.

The public ethics committee of the Jena University HospitalExternal link is responsible for providing advisory services(s) on clinical research involving humans and epidemiological studies with personal data. In addition to protecting test subjects and patients, it also serves to protect research institutions and researchers from incorrect behaviour and recourse claims. The ethics committee must be consulted before the start of any research project.

The Ethics Committee of Friedrich Schiller UniversityExternal link (formerly the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences) examines the ethical soundness of research projects by affiliates of the university from all departments (except Medicine) that deal with human subjects. It provides templates for declarations of consent and subject declarations as well as further information material on its website.

Foreign Trade Steering Group (export control, dual use)

The export of scientifically utilised goods to countries outside the European Economic Area is subject to the strict legal requirements of European and German foreign trade law. Countries on which international economic sanctions (embargoes) have been imposed must be given special consideration. Data, software, knowledge and technical support also fall within the subject area|field of export controls. This must also be taken into account, for example, when hiring foreign personnel and when travelling abroad on business|business trips.

On the website of the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA)External link you will find information on topics such as

• Introduction to export control
• Export control and science
• Embargoes (countries, measures)
• Lists of goods (and BAFA keyword index for easier access)

For a legally compliant approach to the export of scientifically utilised goods and for questions regarding dual use, please contact the university's "Foreign Trade" steering group at an early stage, ideally when planning and applying for a transnational project.

Advisory service(s)|consultations in cases of conflict (data use, authorship, etc.)

The Friedrich Schiller University Jena offers advisory services(s)|consultations in cases of conflict regarding good scientific practice. Please contact the university ombudspersons named on the website. Helpful information on this topic can also be found on the German Research Foundation's website on scientific integrityExternal link and on the Ombuds Committee for Research Integrity in GermanyExternal link.

Further information

The German-language platform www.forschungsdaten.infoExternal link provides an introduction to various subject areas of research data management (RDM) by means of practical articles on individual aspects of RDM. These cover the steps from the planning of a research project, through the application process and implementation, to the publication of results and data and their subsequent use. The topic area "Rights and responsibilities"External link provides information on legal statutory regulations such as German data protection and copyright law, copyright, rights in connection with databases and repositories as well as information on the granting of licences.

The UK Data ServiceExternal link platform provides an English-language introduction to the legal aspects of RDMExternal link, including ethical issues.