The 30th IUPAP General Assembly held in October 2021 approved the creation of Working Group 18 on Ethics with the mandate of surveying the international ethics standards across societies, journals, and funding agencies, including hiring practices and of considering these accumulated data to develop a set of international ethics standards. WG18 produced a review with the required survey. Following this contribution, Ana Maria Cetto, then Chair of WG18, recommended that WG18 be transformed into a permanent advisory structure. This recommendation was upheld by IUPAP’s Rejuvenation Group and, subsequently, by the IUPAP GA. Thus, in October 2025 the 34th IUPAP GA approved the transformation of WG18 on Ethics into a Standing Committee (under VP at Large) on Ethics and Collegiality. This SC is chaired by the Vice-President at Large for Ethics and Collegiality. 

We expect that the SC on Ethics and Collegiality will help IUPAP handle cases of misconduct associated with the activities it carries out or sponsors as well as to define a set of rules to guide  IUPAP in its quest to promote scientific and ethical standards addressing ethical issues of great current concern. We also expect that the SC will advise the EC on policy statements on critical matters of a technical nature or on statements on issues with political implications. 

Besides establishing rules of conduct for individual scientists, there are other problems of concern with undesirable behaviors by different players which directly affect the scientific ecosystem and its credibility. Predatory journals and conferences as well as the frequent propagation of fake scientific news are two such issues of great concern. IUPAP will take a lead in seriously combatting such practices in physics and applied physics.

These are not temporary issues; they evolve and can become critical, significantly impacting policy, decision-makers, physics-related bodies and local physics communities. Challenges must be addressed with determination by effectively tackling issues when they arise, allowing for open speech while avoiding disruption, harassment, and threats. The SC on Ethics and Collegiality should support IUPAP in effectively addressing these issues as they arise. Furthermore it could also function as an observatory of emerging issues with an ethical component (e.g., Artificial Intelligence) and play an advisory role to IUPAP’s governing bodies.