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Korea Financial Times RESEARCH Comp 한국금융신문 청소년 영어 연구논문대회

Research Ethics and AI Use

Good research starts with an honest process

Four things to observe in your research

  • Do the research
    yourself

    The research question, the search for sources, the analysis and the conclusions must be carried out by the entrant.

  • Cite your
    sources

    If you use someone else's sentences, ideas, statistics, tables or images, you must cite the source accurately.

  • Report data
    truthfully

    You must not invent data or results that do not exist, or alter the actual results of your research.

  • Protect
    participants

    When you run a survey or an interview, obtain the participants' consent and keep their personal information safe.

Plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, fake surveys, ghost-writing and submitting someone else's research results as your own are all breaches of research ethics.

See the detailed research ethics standards

Citations and references

When you must cite a source

  • When you quote sentences from a book or paper word for word
  • When you summarise another researcher's argument or idea
  • When you use statistics, survey results or a database
  • When you use tables, graphs, maps, photographs or images
  • When you refer to online articles, reports or web pages
  • When you use information suggested by AI after checking it against the original source

Direct and indirect quotation

Direct quotation

  • When you use someone else's sentences as they are, use quotation marks or a block quotation and give the author and source.

Indirect quotation

  • Even when you explain someone else's idea in your own words, you must cite the source of the original idea.

Do not cite an explanation given by a search engine or an AI as a source in itself.

Wherever possible, check and cite original sources directly, such as papers, reports by governments and international organisations, official statistics and corporate disclosures.

Surveys, interviews and experiments

Before you start

  • Have you clearly defined the purpose of the research and who you will survey?
  • Have you explained the purpose of the research and how the information will be used to participants?
  • Have you obtained voluntary consent to take part?
  • If minors are taking part, have you confirmed the required consent from their guardians?
  • Are there any questions that could be risky or place a burden on participants?

While collecting data

  • Have you avoided collecting unnecessary personal information such as names and contact details?
  • Have you avoided pressing anyone who does not wish to take part to respond?
  • Have you avoided adding or changing anything that differs from the actual responses?
  • If you record or film an interview, did you obtain consent in advance?

When writing the paper

  • Have you removed or anonymised any information that could identify an individual?
  • Have you reported the number of participants and the survey method truthfully?
  • Have you presented unexpected results rather than hiding them?
  • Have you explained the limitations of the research and the characteristics of the sample?

Do not carry out research that could put safety or rights at risk, such as medical procedures, dangerous experiments or the collection of sensitive personal information. If you are unsure, ask your supervising teacher or the secretariat before you start.

What counts as research misconduct

Plagiarism
Using someone else's sentences, ideas or research results without citing the source
Fabrication
Creating data, surveys, interviews, experiments or analysis results that do not exist
Falsification
Arbitrarily altering research data or results, or deliberately leaving out unfavourable data
Duplicate use
Reusing your own earlier work without citing it, as if it were new research
Ghost-writing
Having family, teachers, tutors, consultants or any third party write all or a key part of the paper
Misattribution
Submitting someone else's paper under your own name, or listing a person who did not take part in the research as an author
False disclosure
Reporting the research process, sources of data, outside help or use of AI untruthfully

How far can you use AI?

Allowed

  • Getting ideas for research and search terms
  • Checking research methods and how to use software
  • Checking grammar and spelling in sentences you wrote
  • Checking the structure and readability of the paper

Use with care

  • Suggestions for an outline and the structure of the paper
  • Summarising sources and translating a few sentences
  • Rewording sentences and improving expression
  • Code for data analysis and making graphs

Not allowed

  • Writing the whole paper or a substantial part of the main text
  • Writing the key arguments, analysis or conclusions for you
  • Translating the whole paper with AI
  • Generating false statistics, quotations or references
  • Hiding the fact or extent of your AI use

Do not use AI suggestions as they are. Review and revise them yourself, then disclose the extent of your use.

AI can support your research, but it cannot be the one doing the research.

Always verify facts, statistics and references provided by AI against the original sources.

See the AI use policy

Pre-submission checklist

  • I formed the research question and the key arguments myself.
  • I carried out the search for sources and the analysis myself.
  • I cited the sources of the sentences and data I quoted.
  • I obtained consent from survey and interview participants.
  • I checked the information and sources provided by AI myself.
  • I disclosed the AI tools I used and the extent of their use truthfully.

Where necessary, the secretariat may ask you to submit research notes, drafts of the paper, revision history, raw survey data or records of AI use.

If a breach of the research ethics or AI use policy is found, the paper may be excluded from judging or the award may be revoked.