Ethics and trust in digital scholarship

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address issues of ethics and trust in a digital scholarship environment relating to: accuracy of data, integrity of scholarly research process, electronic publications and communications; intellectual property rights, confidentiality/privacy and data security. The paper raises such questions as: To what extent do faculty trust digital research process? How can trust be nurtured in a scholarly environment where research is undertaken wholly or in part electronically?

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on critical analysis of existing literature especially the theoretical models of ethics and trust drawn from across different disciplines such as marketing, psychology, management, and information systems.

Findings

Despite the increasing adoption of digital scholarship strategies among universities, ethics and trust issues are not being addressed. In order for digital scholarship to be effectively integrated within the institutional operational milieu and institutionalised, a number of interventions are required, such as: putting in place an e‐strategy; a research portal that facilitates data transfer; knowledge sharing, protocols of uploading content; open access standards; institutional repositories; e‐research librarians responsible for training, faculty and students re‐orientation; provision of digital curation services such as standards, software, and access cyber infrastructure.

Research limitations/implications

The subject of ethics and trust has hardly been researched in a digital scholarship environment. Consequently, there is limited literature on the subject. Empirical research is needed to address issues of trust and ethics in digital learning and research environment in order to leverage the proliferation of technology to optimise benefits for scholarly endeavours.

Practical implications

Institutions of higher learning, especially universities, must strive to integrate into their learning and research strategies ethical and trust aspects of digital scholarship to ensure that information and communication technologies that are implemented meet acceptable scholarly standards with regard to access, usability, productivity and more.

Social implications

Issues of ethics and trust have become more important than before because of the evolving knowledge economy and the pervasity of information and communication technology in society emanating from increased rollout of e‐government infrastructures throughout the world by governments.

Originality/value

The subject of ethics and trust has hardly been addressed in literature in the context of digital scholarship, yet more educational institutions the world over are moving toward embracing digital scholarship environments.

Citation

Mutula, S.M. (2011), "Ethics and trust in digital scholarship", The Electronic Library, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 261-276. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640471111125212