This article examines the results of a study conducted of the top 100 public sector units in Sweden. The aim of the study was to examine and describe the codes of ethics in these Swedish public sector units. Reports on the responses of 27 public sector units that possessed a code of ethics. The content analyses of these codes indicate that they have only recently become an interest in public Sweden. Many public sector units are in the early stages of development and assimilation of codes of ethics artefacts into overall ethics policies in the organization. A customized PUBSEC-scale was used to measure and evaluate the content of the codes. The code of ethics best practice in the Swedish public sector has been used to develop a public sector scale consisting of seven dimensions and 41 items. The PUBSEC-scale differs from the current private sector scales in literature, owing to the specific characteristics of the public sector. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.