All graduate students are expected to uphold the Virginia Tech Principles of Community and the Graduate School’s Expectations for Graduate Education as well as the scholarly integrity and research ethics standards of their disciplines. Graduate students must complete degree program requirements for learning about 4 required scholarly ethics and integrity topics plus additional topics relevant to the discipline as follows.

1. Plagiarism and other violations of the Graduate Honor Code
2. Proper use of professional conventions in citation of existing research and scholarship, accurate reporting and ownership of findings, and acknowledgement of contributions to the work
3. Ethical standards in teaching, mentoring, and professional activities
4. Available avenues for reporting alleged misconduct

1. Appropriate lab procedures and maintenance of lab notebooks and other research documentation
2. Fair use of publications, software, and equipment
3. Appropriate research protocols involving human and animal subjects; Institutional Review Board and/or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee certification
4. Guidelines for maintenance of confidentiality (and, where relevant, anonymity) in research
5. Guidelines for determination of authorship
6. Appropriate grant and contract management, including appropriately asserting personal or program capacities and competencies when applying for grants and contracts
7. Discipline‐ or field‐specific professional ethics