Civil clause (German: Zivilklausel), sometimes civilian clause or civilians' clause, is a voluntary commitment by academic institutions to engage exclusively in civil (i.e. non-military) research.
The idea originates in Japan: In 1950, the Science Council of Japan established
that its members will refuse to participate in military-related research projects. Such a declaration was repeated in 1967, and in 2017.
In Germany, Universität Bremen was the first to put a Civil Clause in effect. Its resolution no.5113 from 1986 declared:
This declaration has been renewed in 1992 and in 2020
Since then, many German universities have followed this example.
Technische Universität Darmstadt requires:
TU Berlin's academic senate decided in 1991:
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen amended its constitution in 2010 as follows:
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen on February 13 (2013) supplemented the following Civil Clause to its mission statement:
Civil Clauses can be regarded as contemporary extensions of Merton's norms on scientific ethos.