University PR and Efforts to Prevent Research Misconduct

Current universities are equipped with communication, marketing and PR departments. They are also furnished with research integrity officers and formalities to fight academic misconduct. In Europe half a century ago, such university features were unheard-of. They evolved at roughly the same time, but are they interrelated and, if so, how? Why does the otherwise frank, but strangely isolated research integrity discourse hardly ever enquire critically into institutional PR efforts? In addition, is there a risk that universities—although liberal institutions—might develop illiberal traits and, to further their reputation as efficient business corporations, distance themselves from classic academic virtues? These are salient questions to anybody concerned with research integrity and the university as an institution, and form the focus of this book. Composed of three interconnected essays and considering historical developments, it will inspire reflection and debate on the future of European universities as liberal, cultural institutions.