EC-16.5 Standards, and Research Integrity
You can explain what a standard is and who writes one, find and read the relevant part of one, describe what conformance and certification actually mean, and state the obligations of honest authorship including attribution and the handling of data.
Standards and research integrity sit in one topic because both answer the same question: what makes an engineering statement checkable by someone who was not there. A standard makes a product claim checkable, and integrity makes a research claim checkable. Treating them together is unusual and it is the argument this topic makes.
Work through these
What a standard is and who writes one
An agreed specification produced by a body whose members are industry, academia and sometimes government. It is a consensus document, which explains both its authority and its compromises.
NPTEL: Introduction on Intellectual Property to Engineers and Technologists (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseFinding and reading the part of a standard you need
Standards are long, cross-referenced and written to be searched. Locating the clause that applies, and following its references, is the skill rather than reading the document through.
NPTEL: Introduction on Intellectual Property to Engineers and Technologists (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseConformance, testing and certification
Conformance is meeting the specification, testing is demonstrating it, and certification is a third party attesting to it. A product can meet a standard without being certified, and the distinction matters commercially.
NPTEL: Introduction on Intellectual Property to Engineers and Technologists (IIT Kharagpur) · CourseAttribution, and what counts as your own work
Code, figures, text and ideas taken from elsewhere are cited, whatever the licence says. Presenting someone else's work as your own is the one failure that ends careers rather than damaging them.
NPTEL: Research Methodology (IIT Madras) · CourseHandling data honestly
Every point is reported or the exclusion is stated with its reason. Removing inconvenient results, adjusting a figure to look cleaner, or reporting the best run as though it were typical are all fabrication.
NPTEL: Research Methodology (IIT Madras) · CourseAuthorship, credit and the work of others
Authorship reflects contribution, and someone whose work is used is credited whether or not they are present to object. Deciding this at the start of a project prevents an argument at the end.
NPTEL: Research Methodology (IIT Madras) · Course
Sign in to keep your progress.
Free resources
We haven't checked most of these for screen reader use yet.
Links last checked 3 Sept 2026.
Stuck here?
Ask a mentor. A real person answers, and they can see exactly which topic you're on. Usually within a couple of working days.
Checking your session…
Topics shown in module order.