On 15 October 2026, the Faculty of Finance at City University of Macau held a special lecture as part of the series on academic thesis writing for postgraduate students in Room G2213 at the Golden Dragon Campus. Professor Markus Leibrecht, course coordinator of BAE Elite Cohort Programme, served as the speaker. He discussed ethical standards and integrity issues in economic and financial academic research with the students, attracting a large number of participants.

Professor Markus Leibrecht emphasised that integrity is the cornerstone of academic and personal credibility. He elaborated in detail on the three pillars of research integrity: honesty in data collection, methodological transparency and the reproducibility of results. He also cautioned students that they must strictly adhere to academic standards and steer clear of misconduct such as fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. He noted that responsible research requires the disclosure of conflicts of interest and the avoidance of improper authorship practices. Furthermore, in cases involving human experimentation, surveys or clinical trials, approval must be obtained from an institutional review board prior to the commencement of data collection, and compliance procedures—such as ensuring participants sign informed consent forms—must be strictly followed. With regard to the current boom in the academic application of AI, he reminded students that when using such technology, they must adhere to the principle of transparency by clearly labelling AI-generated content as such, and must verify the sources of the literature and their authenticity; ultimately, it is the researchers who bear academic accountability.

During this lecture, Professor Markus Leibrecht provided students with clear guidelines on integrity in academic research, enabling them to gain a genuine understanding of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, thereby collectively upholding the quality and credibility of academic research.