LETHIQUE DANS LA RECHERCHE ET LENCADREMENT DES MEMOIRES ET THESES DANS LES UNIVERSITES PUBLIQUES DU BENIN

This article analyzes the ethics involved in research reports and the supervision of theses and dissertations within the academic environment. It aims to understand the underlying logics behind the behaviors and practices of various categories of actors in light of the ethical principles that structure academic research, on one hand, and to demonstrate that the loss of credibility and the quality of scientific output in academia result from structural problems and a crisis of trust observed between teachers and learners. Our methodological approach, although socio-anthropological in nature, is oriented towards an ethnographic and comprehensive perspective of the practices and behaviors of these two categories of university community members. It is combined with a biographical approach focusing on the analysis of life narratives from students and teachers, data from individual interviews, discussions, testimonials, and observational data. From this research, it emerges initially that the image of academia in Benin is the result of the quality of scientific output, structural issues in research funding, and strategies developed by teacher-researchers concerning the renewal of their academic ranks. This work has shown that these strategies compromise the credibility of scientific publications and betray students trust in their supervisors while also contaminating their relationships and damaging the image of the university. Consequently, the prominence of the university system must rely on profound changes concerning the funding and evaluation of research.