Ethics and scientific publication

Abstract

This article summarizes the major categories of ethical violations encountered during submission, review, and publication of scientific articles. We discuss data fabrication and falsification, plagiarism, redundant and duplicate publication, conflict of interest, authorship, animal and human welfare, and reviewer responsibility. In each section, pertinent historical background and citation of relevant regulations and statutes are provided. Furthermore, a specific case(s) derived from actual situations is(are) presented. These cases were chosen to highlight the complexities that investigators and journals must face when dealing with ethical issues. A series of discussion questions follow each case. It is our hope that by increasing education and awareness of ethical matters relevant to scientific investigation and publication, deviations from appropriate conduct will be reduced.

Governing Knowledge in the Scientific Community: Exploring the Role of Retractions in Biomedicine

“…Not surprisingly, detailed analyses of high profile fraud animate the history of science literature (e.g., Weiner, 1955;Pool, 1990;Mallove, 1991;Hersen 1992, LaFollette, 1992;Kevles, 1998;Reich, 2009). False science can take additional forms such as smaller-scale falsifications of results and data, plagiarism, unintended errors, and the inability to replicate research results for unknown reasons (Benos et al 2005; Office of Science and Technology Policy 2000;Resnick, 2003;Fanelli, 2009). False science and doubts regarding scientific ethics are not new phenomena.…”

Ethical policies on animal experiments are not compromised by whether a journal is freely accessible or charges for publication

“…Scientific articles are intended to form the definitive description of novel findings, and as such, their authors are required to conform to ethical standards regarding factors such as conflicts of interest, plagiarism, data falsification, and other aspects of scientific misconduct (Benos et al, 2005). In reporting experimental work involving animals, other ethical concerns also need to be considered, such as whether the animals used have been treated in a suitable manner, both in terms of their husbandry and the amount of suffering that is incurred before, during and after the reported procedure.…”

The past, present and future of African herpetology

“…africanherpetology.org and http://www.tandfonline.com/ther). Scientists are human and do behave badly (Martinson et al 2005;Benos et al 2005), and the ethical code exists to protect all concerned in the publishing of articles. While guidelines cannot be strictly enforced, since the introduction of the code there has been a rejection of several submissions that fell outside of the guidelines.…”