title: Does the Japanese Society for Hygiene need its own Code of Conduct? A comparison of the responses of councilors and junior members based on a questionnaire survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare current awareness of the "On a Code of Conduct for Scientists" (OCCS) among members of the Japanese Society for Hygiene (JSH).
  
  
  METHODS
  An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was mailed to JSH members, including 439 councilors and 376 junior members (who were under 50 years of age with a membership of 3 years or longer, excluding councilors). Councilors were surveyed from November to December 2007, while junior members were surveyed from November to December 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall response rate was 40.6% (n = 331/815), with responses from 46.7% of the councilors (n = 205/439) and 33.5% of the junior members (n = 126/376). Among the respondents, 36.0% of councilors (n = 68) and 59.8% of junior members (n = 73) did not know the contents of "On the Code of Conduct for Scientists" (P < 0.01), while 76.3% of councilors (n = 145) and 61.4% of junior members (n = 75) had not heard of it (P < 0.05). However, a majority of the respondents reported interest in the Code [70.0% of councilors (n = 133), 68.6% of junior members (n = 83)] (P < 0.05) and a favorable attitude towards research ethics education [69.3% of councilors (n = 133), 68.9% of junior members (n = 84)] (P < 0.54). In addition, 24.3% of the responding councilors (n = 46) and 15.7% of the responding junior members (n = 19) believe it necessary for JSH to formulate its own code of conduct for scientists (P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We clarified the current state of awareness of the OCCS among JSH members as well as the opinion of members for the JSH to have its own Code of Conduct for Scientists. This result provides important information that should be considered during the formulation of an individual code of conduct for scientists in the JSH.
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8421, Japan. wakaha@juntendo.ac.jp
authors: Wakaha
authors: W
authors: Ikeda
authors: Yutaka
authors: Y
authors: Inaba
authors: Tatsuya
authors: T
authors: Takeshita
authors: Katsumi
authors: K
authors: Yoshida
authors: Kumiko
authors: K
authors: Ogoshi
authors: Kazushi
authors: K
authors: Okamoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D032781:Codes of Ethics; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011634:Public Health / Q000941:ethics*; D012952:Societies / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires