A particularly important issue is the due respect for ethical issues in research in, in our case, social and human sciences, and especially in communication research. The university centers usually adhere to international standards, in our case those of the All European Academies (ALLEA), the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), which above all deals with plagiarism. The 2013 Code of Ethics for Researchers of the European Commission should also be taken into account.

The research will respect confidentiality agreements with sources, for example when carrying out observations, interviews or life stories, also when we practice virtual ethnography or netnography. It is recommended to sign agreements of this type with our sources and informants.