THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

LI KA SHING FACULY OF MEDICINE

GRSC6031/MMPH7101 Research Ethics for Graduate Students

Examination Case and Questions

Authorship
Professor Cheung, his post-doctoral associate Dr Chan and, Sam, a third-year PhD student are
working hard on a shared paper. Their findings on the efficacy of anti-retrovirals for
prophylactic use against HIV infection go far to replicate and corroborate studies done on this
topic overseas. The three co-authors are in the final revisions to their paper and Professor
Cheung has asked Sam to do the final edits to this paper, given his previous study in other
English-speaking universities. The three authors are scheduled to meet this morning at 10am
for a group read through then submission via their selected journals’ on-line submission
system.

It’s 3am and Sam is staring at the screen in disbelief. The literature review section and
substantial portions of the methods and discussion section, which Dr Chan was asked to write
up, are taken word-for-word from a paper that Professor Cheung and Dr Chan published last
year. Sam confirmed his suspicion by performing an ithenticate.com plagiarism search on
their paper and by highlighting and comparing the sections. While Dr Chan did include
in-text citations to their paper, he does not indicate that three full paragraphs are directly
copied here—in the discussion section alone!—without quotes or other attribution. Sam is
concerned that this is self-plagiarism and could be a violation of the requirements for
responsible conduct of research. Sam is unsure what to do now—rewriting the sections will
take time, which he knows neither Professor Cheung nor Dr Chan are keen to spend on this
paper.

Using what you learned in class about research misconduct and authorship ethics, help advise
Sam by answering ONE of the following two questions (no less than 500 words) and submit
to rpgethic@hku.hk by 6 pm on January 19, 2018:
1) Has Dr Chan committed an act of research misconduct by copying directly portions of his
previous paper with Professor Cheung? Why or why not?
2) Sam will be listed as an author on this paper. What obligations does Sam have as an
author to ensure that this paper is free from any suspected or actual research misconduct?
Be specific in your description of his obligations as an author.

Please write your name, Department/Faculty and university number in your essay.