Resources for improving science culture

Our vision for a great science culture sets out what this looks like for the chemical sciences and describes its key qualities and foundations.

The links in the table below highlight resources from the RSC and other organisations. You will find tools, guidance, frameworks, funding and recognition opportunities, and other resources to support you in your efforts to improve science culture in your own setting.

Share additional resources with us

We know that many members of the science and innovation communities are involved in science culture initiatives in their own settings. If you are aware of a resource that would be valuable more widely, please do share it with us so we can consider including it here.

Share resources with us

* Denotes mandatory fields

Full name *

Organisation

Position

Email address *

Brief description of resource *

Link/s to resource *

Anything else you would like to add

We need to collect and manage your personal data in order to provide this service. Our privacy statement explains how we do this.

Please tick this box to acknowledge that you have read, understood and accept the terms and conditions for data protection.

I agree

See all resources

Use the links in the table below to find resources, tools and guidelines to support your efforts to improve science culture in your own environment.

Quality 1 - Rigorous

Tool/Resource/Initiative	Link	Description/Use-case
Dilemma game app		An app-based game on resolving research integrity dilemmas, to get researchers talking about issues they might previously have had to grapple with alone.
UKRIO resources		Research integrity resources, collated by the UK Research Integrity Office.
UKRN resources		Information and materials to support high quality research and reproducibility, collated by the UK Reproducibility Network.
Research Integrity Concordat		Concordats on research integrity to ensure that science organisations’ work is underpinned by the highest standards of rigour and integrity

Quality 2 - Safe and supportive

Tool/Resource/Initiative	Link	Description/Use-case
RSC bullying and harassment support line Wellbeing and listening service	Bullying and harassment support (rsc.org) Wellbeing and listening service from the Chemists' Community Fund (rsc.org)	Impartial support for anyone affected or concerned by bullying or harassing behaviour in the chemical sciences. Dedicated wellbeing and listening service for RSC members.
RSC health and safety resources		Health and safety guides developed from existing good practice by the RSC, and material kindly supplied by UK university chemistry departments, primarily aimed at providing postgraduate students and university researchers with the basic knowledge needed to work safely in a chemical laboratory.
RSC career and professional development support	Careers support (rsc.org)	Career and professional development support available to members of the 91AV.
RSC chemistry job profiles		Features a range of job profiles in the chemical sciences to highlight the wide range of options available with chemistry qualifications.
RSC actions in support of Technician Commitment	Supporting the Technician Commitment (rsc.org)	Offer to support the career development of technicians in the chemical sciences.
RSC LGBT+ allyship guide	practising-active-lgbt-allyship.pdf (rsc.org)	An introduction to developing good allyship practices.
Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers		An agreement between universities, research institutes and funders to support the career development of researchers in the UK, including a commitment to enable researchers to dedicate 10 days a year to their professional development.
Mental health resources by Dr Zoe Ayres		A set of resources collated by Dr Zoe Ayres to support researchers with caring for their mental health and raise awareness of the issues.
Pearn Kandola ‘How to be an active bystander’ podcast		Podcast episode on how to be an active bystander. Blog summarising key recommendations from the podcast episode.

Quality 3 - Ethical and responsible

Tool/Resource/Initiative	Link	Description/Use-case
RSC ethical practice guide	royal-society-of-chemistry-guide-to-ethics.pdf (rsc.org)	Guide for ethical practice.
Minimum standards for inclusion and diversity for scholarly publishing	Minimum standards for inclusion and diversity for scholarly publishing	Set of minimum standards, developed by the RSC in collaboration with other scholarly publishers, upon which all members of teh publishing community can build to improve inclusion and diversity in the industry.
RSC framework for action in scientific publishing	Framework for Action (rsc.org)	A framework with actions to ensure that no scientist is left behind in publishing their results.
RSC sustainable laboratory practice toolkit	Resources to help your laboratory become more sustainable (rsc.org)	A collection of useful materials for achieving sustainable laboratory practices from institutions around the world.
UKRIO/Royal Society "Integrity in practice" toolkit		A series of case studies of positive interventions made by individuals and organisations from across the globe to improve research culture and integrity.
COPE ethics toolkit (aimed at publishers)		Comprehensive toolkit that explains expected ethical practices in scholarly publishing, and highlights resources for editorial offices to develop their codes of ethical conduct and practice.
Sustainable lab accreditation		Standard for sustainable laboratory operations.

Quality 4 - Open and collaborative

Tool/Resource/Initiative	Link	Description/Use-case
RSC open access resources	Open access publishing (rsc.org)	Information on how open access publishing works, why it matters, and how to implement it in practice with the RSC.
RSC data sharing and archiving guidance	Data sharing guidance and policy (rsc.org)	Guidance for chemical scientists to achieve best practice, in both the sharing and archiving of research data.
RSC Horizon Prizes	Recognising excellence: prizes for a modern world (rsc.org)	New prizes that recognise collaborations and teamwork.
ChemRxiv & ChemSpider		ChemRxiv (pronounced ‘chem-archive’) is a free submission, distribution and archive service for unpublished preprints in chemistry and related areas. ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database providing fast text and structure search access to over 100 million structures from hundreds of data source.
Eurodoc Open Science MOOC		Massive open online course (MOOC) for researchers to understand the basic principles and practices of open Science, educate and train early career researchers in open science, and inform and engage research stakeholders on the topic.
Open Access switchboard		A mission-driven, community-led initiative designed to simplify the sharing of information between stakeholders about open access publications throughout the publication journey.
IUPAC FAIR 91AV Cookbook		An open, collaborative, community focused resource on working with FAIR data in chemistry.
Journal checker tool		Tool to check which publishing options are supported by your funder’s Open Access policy.
Open Data Concordat		Concordat on open research data to ensure that the research data gathered and generated by members of the UK research community is made openly available for use by others wherever possible.

Quality 5 - Accessible and inclusive

Tool/Resource/Initiative	Link	Description/Use-case
RSC LGBT+ toolkit	LGBT+ toolkit (rsc.org)	Provides tools and resources for guidance and support in making a real difference towards LGBT+ inclusivity in science.
RSC Broadening Horizons programme	Broadening Horizons Programme (rsc.org)	Pilot programme to support chemistry students and graduates from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds to pursue careers in chemistry.
RSC lnclusion & Diversity resources	Inclusion and diversity resources (rsc.org)	Reports, digital packs, videos and information to help promote inclusion and diversity in your organisation, group or network.
RSC Inclusive committees resource	making-your-committees-inclusive-and-diverse.pdf (rsc.org)	Information on how to make your committees inclusive and diverse.
RSC Inclusive communications resources	how-to-make-your-communications-inclusive.pdf (rsc.org) how to make spoken communication accessible for disabled people (rsc.org)	Information on how to make your communications inclusive. Information on how to make spoken communication accessible for disabled people.
RSC Inclusive events resource	making-your-events-inclusive.pdf (rsc.org)	Quick guide on what to consider before and during your event to make it inclusive and diverse.
RSC ChemCareers disability webinars	Inclusion and diversity resources (rsc.org)	Series of webinars providing information, advice and practical tips for disabled chemists who are job seeking or in employment, and for those supporting a disabled employee in the workplace.
RSC Grants for carers	Grants for carers (rsc.org)	Grants of up to £1,200 toward caring costs to enable individuals attend a chemistry-related meeting, conference or workshop or professional development event.
RSC Accessibility grants	Accessibility Grants (rsc.org)	Grants up to £1,200 to reduce accessibility challenges when attending professional events.
RSC Inclusion and Diversity Fund	Inclusion & Diversity Fund - 91AV (rsc.org)	Financial support for innovative products, activities and research projects that help make the chemical sciences community more inclusive and diverse.
RSC Raising awareness of gender inequality promotional pack	Digital Media Pack (rsc.org)	Ready-made promotional items to raise awareness of gender inequality in chemical sciences.
Unconscious/implicit bias awareness resources		Videos raising awareness of implicit bias to encourage fair decision making.
Inclusive conferencing resources		Guidelines and advice on running inclusive events and conferences that are accessible to all.
		A podcast created by both undergraduate and postgraduate chemists at the University of Oxford to discuss experiences of how having a period has affected their time studying chemistry.

Underpinned by broad recognition

Tool/Resource/initiative	Link	Description/Use-case
RSC Horizon Prizes	Recognising excellence: prizes for a modern world (rsc.org)	The RSC Horizon prizes come as part of a major overhaul of our recognition structures to better recognise teams and collaborations.
RSC Inclusion and Diversity Prize	Inclusion and Diversity Prize (rsc.org)	The RSC Inclusion and Diversity Prize recognises an individual or team's contribution and impact in promoting and improving the accessibility, inclusivity and diversity of the chemical science community.
RSC Education Prizes	Education prizes open for nominations (rsc.org)	The RSC Education prizes come as part of a major overhaul of our recognition structures to better recognise contributions to teaching and education.
RSC approach to rethinking recognition	Re-thinking recognition: Science prizes for the modern world (rsc.org)	Approach to review of a recognition programme to make sure that the recognition of modern scientific excellence is fit for today’s needs. This could be applied to other recognition programmes or portfolios.
RSC Journal Lectureships Awards and Outstanding Paper Awards	See our individual journal pages for details of each lectureship	Lectureships offer that ranges across career stages and awards that recognise the team contribution to a research article.
RSC actions in support of Technician Commitment		RSC offer to support the recognition of technicians in the chemical sciences.
RSC professional awards	Professional awards from the 91AV (rsc.org)	Professional awards that centre transferable skills and recognise competences and commitment to professional development.
RSC chemistry job profiles		Features a range of job profiles in the chemical sciences, highlighting and recognising various chemistry roles and careers and how they each make a difference.
UKRI 101 jobs that change the world		Campaign to highlight some of the many roles that contribute to the success of the research and innovation system.
CRediT		Taxonomy that can be used to represent the roles typically played by contributors to research outputs, to enable the description of each contributor’s role in producing a scholarly output.
Technician Commitment		A sector-wide initiative to help address key challenges facing technical staff working in teaching and research.
Guidance and resources on the use of narrative CV formats	</>	Guidance on the use of UKRI’s Resume for Research and Innovation, a CV template to encourage recognition of broader contributions to research. Report consolidating the key learnings from a workshop on the adoption of narrative CVs for funding organisations.
HiddenREF		Competition that recognises all research outputs and every role that makes research possible.
More than our rank		Initiative that provides an opportunity for academic institutions to highlight the many and various ways they serve the world (that are not reflected in their ranking position).
DORA case studies		Case studies of universities and national consortia highlighting key elements of institutional change to improve academic career assessment.
DORA project TARA		Tools to Advance Research Assessment (TARA) is a project to facilitate the development of new policies and practices for academic career assessment.
Manifesto for research metrics		Manifesto setting out 10 principles for research evaluation, focused on the responsible use of metrics.
Framework for research evaluation		A five-stage model for evaluating research responsibly. This practical step-by-step process is designed to help research managers, or anyone involved in conducting research evaluations, in planning new evaluations as well as checking existing evaluations.
A Values Framework for the Organisation of Research		A set of shared values to serve as a reference and to be further embedded as part of the research system.

← Back - Our vision

Next - Community feedback on science culture →

91AV