Scientific Administration, Policy and Ethics
This domain examines how publicly funded science is planned, procured, staffed and held to account, and the ethical and legal duties of a scientific officer in Sri Lanka's public service.
Core rules and concepts
- Public expenditure must fall within the approved annual estimate and follow the Establishments Code for personnel matters, the Financial Regulations for financial control, and the national procurement guidelines for goods, works and services.
- Separation of duties: the officer who requisitions is not the officer who certifies receipt and is not the officer who authorises payment.
- Research ethics requires Ethics Review Committee approval before data collection, informed consent (parental consent plus the child's assent for minors), confidentiality, and the right to withdraw without penalty.
- Authorship requires substantial contribution, drafting or critical revision, final approval and public accountability; gift, ghost and guest authorship are misconduct, as are fabrication, falsification and plagiarism.
- Data must be retained, backed up and available for verification; publicly funded inventions and data follow the institution's intellectual property policy and the Intellectual Property Act, with material transfer agreements governing sharing.
Worked example
In February an officer needs an instrument costing LKR 3 million, but only LKR 1.2 million remains on the relevant vote. A supplier offers two invoices of LKR 1.5 million. Splitting a single requirement to stay under an approval threshold is prohibited, and the purchase would commit expenditure without an available provision, which the Financial Regulations do not permit. The correct course is to defer the purchase to the next estimate cycle or seek a formal reallocation through the proper authority, and to record that decision.
Traps that cost marks
- Seeking ethical clearance after data collection has begun.
- Treating a supervisor's automatic co-authorship as normal practice.
- Committing expenditure against an inadequate vote and hoping for a year-end transfer.
- Quoting policy aspirations (national science policy statements) as if they were enforceable rules.