Breakout Sessions
Breakout Session I: Authorship, plagiarism and entitlements to data in the age of AI
Prof. Ansgar Ohly, Faculty of Law LMU Munich
One of the basic principles of good academic practice is the correct indication of authorship. But who is the author in the digital world? What is plagiarism? How does the exponential rise of AI applications influence our notion of authorship? Who 'owns' research data and who is entitled to use them? This presentation will not be able to answer all of these questions with scientific precision - lawyers rarely do. But it will try to give an overview of established principles of goof academic practice and their adaptation to new challenges.
Prof. Dr. Ansgar Ohly holds the Chair of Private Law, Intellectual Property and Competition Law at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and currently also the Dean of the Faculty of Law. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford. At LMU, he is the chairman of the Commission for the Safeguarding of Good Academic Practice. In 2018/19 he was a member of the committee tasked with revising the DFG Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice.
Breakout Session II: Ethics and Innovation: Balancing Large Language Models in the Research Ecosystem
Dr. Tobias Straub, BMC Bioinformatics Core Facility, LMU Munich
This session explores the diverse applications of chatbots, ChatGPT, and large language models (LLMs) in basic research. I will provide an overview of how these AI tools assist in writing manuscripts, drafting grant applications, conducting literature reviews, and supporting various stages of the research process including data analysis, interpretation, and integration. The discussion will cover both the benefits and challenges, such as the accuracy of AI-generated content, risks of hallucinations (false or misleading outputs), and concerns related to intellectual property and plagiarism. I will also examine the impact of AI on responsible research practices, focusing on ethical guidelines and best practices to mitigate potential negative outcomes.
Dr. Tobias Straub studied medicine at the University of Würzburg in Germany. As a postdoctoral researcher he started at the Adolf-Butenandt-Institute of Molecular Biology at LMU Munich, where he is still holding the position of an academic director. Since 2012 he is head of the Bioinformatics core facility at the Biomedical Center of LMU. His main mission is to increase reproducibility of basic research by advising researchers in experimental design and choice of appropriate statistical procedures for any kind of projects and questions.
Breakout Session III: Predatory Journals - What you need to know
Veronika Reinertshofer, University Library, LMU Munich
The dissemination of research results is a fundamental aspect of the scientific process. The accessibility of these findings to the scientific community is made possible by the practice of open access publishing. Given the proliferation of emerging open access publishers, there is a notable disparity in the level of quality and commitment to ethical publishing practices among these entities. This lack of clarity presents a challenge for researchers seeking to identify reputable open access publishers.
The aim of this session is to provide insight into the criteria for determining the quality of a journal and the potential risks associated with publishing in a journal. The session will also examine the broader implications of predatory publishing, which not only affects individual researchers but also the scientific community as a whole.
Veronika Reinertshofer works in the University Library of LMU Munich in the associated electronic publishing divisions: publishing services open access.
Breakout Session IV: Science Communication and Responsible Research
Dr. Bernhard Goodwin, Munich Science Communication Lab and Managing Director of the Institute for Communication Science and Media Research, LMU Munich
In this Session we will look at the link between science communication and responsible research. We look at the arguments for science communication from different perspectives. We discuss the role of a researcher regarding science communication under different circumstances. We delve deeper in the question of how to do science communication, but also reflect on possible negative aspects of science communication. Finally, different resources for science communication are being presented.
Bernhard Goodwin is Executive Director of the Munich Science Communication Lab and Bernhard Goodwin is Managing Director of the Institute for Communication Science and Media Research at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He studied communication science, computer science and law, and earned his doctorate on the transfer of knowledge to society using the example of forestry science.
Breakout Session V: Responsible Bibliometrics
Agnes Geißelmann, University Library, LMU Munich
Bibliometric indicators play an important role in science: For example, the Journal Impact Factor is an major criterion when choosing a journal for publishing a paper. The h-index plays an important role for a scientist's reputation.
But what do these metrics actually measure? Are decisions based on them reasonable and fair? In this breakout session, we will look at the possibilities and limitations of bibliometric indicators and their impact on science.
Agnes Geißelmann studied Environmental Planning at TUM and works now at the University Library of LMU Munich. She is subject librarian for two faculties (Geosciences and Veterinary Medicine) and in charge of the bibliometric services of the University Library.