Publication Ethics

Presented By
Dr. Pranab Barman
Assistant Professor
Department of Education
Raiganj University
 Concept of Publication Ethics
 Publication ethics are rules of conduct generally agreed upon
when publishing results of scientific research or other scholarly
work. Generally it is a standard that protects intellectual
property and forbids the re-publication of another's work
without proper credit. It also forbids the use of plagiarism of
another's efforts. Data and information published as original
must, in fact, be original.

 It is generally defined as a set of principles that distinguish

between acceptable and unacceptable behavior or way of
conducting a task.
 Concept of Publication Ethics
 Publication ethics are the principles and standards
associated with the process of publishing the results of
scientific research or scholarly work in general. These
include such requirements as giving the appropriate
credit and authorship status to those who have earned it;
ensuring that appropriate citations are given to ideas,
methodology, or findings from another study; not
submitting the same article to more than one journal
simultaneously; and not submitting results for
republication without indicating that they have already
been published elsewhere.
 Concept of Publication Ethics
 Research ethics are mainly of two fields;
research integrity and publication ethics.
Research misconducts can occur at both
areas. Examples of the research integrity
violations are falsification, fabrication, and
plagiarism; and those of the publication
ethics violations are duplicate publication
including self-plagiarism, and improper
authorship.
 Concept of Publication Ethics

 Publication Ethics are the Ethical standards

for publication exist to ensure high-quality
scientific publications, public trust in
scientific findings, and that people receive
credit for their work and ideas.
 Ethical Issues in Publication

 Duplicate Publication

 Authorship

 Scientific Misconduct (including

plagiarism)

 Conflict of interest
 Duplicate Publication

 Submitting a new manuscript containing the

same hypotheses, data, discussion points,
and/or conclusions as a previously
published manuscript is called as duplicate
publication. This is similar to plagiarism, but
instead of copying phrases verbatim, the
same data, images, and study hypothesis
are replicated in another paper.
 Duplicate Publication

 Duplicate Publication means-

 Republishing the same findings

 Submitting the same manuscript to two

or more journals at once

 Dividing one research project into many

little papers (“salami slicing”)
 Types of Duplicate Publication
 The COPE classifies duplicate publications into major and minor
offences.

 A major offence is defined as a duplicate publication based on the

same dataset with identical findings and/or evidence that authors
have sought to hide redundancy, e.g., by changing title or author
order or not referring to previous papers.

 A minor offence, also referred as “salami slicing,” is defined as a

duplicate publication with some element of redundancy or
legitimate repetition or reanalysis (e.g., subgroup/extended
follow-up/repeated methods). Publications in regional journals or
non-English journals are most commonly used for duplicate
publications by authors. Authors must refrain from such
misconduct and recognize that this is unethical behavior.
 Types of Duplicate Publication

 The COPE provides clear guidelines on handling

duplicate publications in addition to rejecting

and revoking the submitted or published
papers. Performing a separate confirmatory
study excluding previously published data and
with a larger sample size does not amount to
duplicate publication, even though the study
hypothesis remains the same.
 Authorship

 Who can be an author?

 Authorship order

 Issues and problems with authorship

 Authorship

 International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

(ICMJE) at http://www.icmje.org/ states authorship is
based on:
1) Substantial contributions to the conception and
design of a paper, or acquisition of data or analysis
and interpretation of data, and,
2) Drafting the article or revising it critically for
important intellectual content and final approval of
the version to be published.
 Best Practices for Authorship

 Discuss the order of authorship at beginning

 Revisit decisions on authorship during project

– especially if responsibilities changes

 Disclose if any writing done by professional

writers

 Document everything in writing

 All authors take responsibility for content

 Best Practices for Authorship
 All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the
research in the manuscript, approved its claims, and agreed to be an
author. It is important to list everyone who made a significant scientific
contribution. We refer to the ICMJE guidelines. Author contributions may be
described at the end of the submission, optionally using roles defined
by CRediT. Submitting authors must provide an ORCID and we encourage
all authors to provide one. Changes in authorship must be declared to the
journal and agreed to by all authors. An author may change their name on
a published article (see below).

 Anyone who contributed to the research or manuscript preparation, but is

not an author, should be acknowledged with their permission.

 Submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be

considered.
 Scientific Misconduct

 Falsification

 Fabrication

 Plagiarism

Sometimes it is called as FFP in research

and publication
 Scientific Misconduct
 Research fraud is publishing data or conclusions that were not
generated by experiments or observations, but by invention or data
manipulation. There are two kinds in research and scientific
publishing:

 Fabrication: Making up research data and results, and recording or

reporting them.

 Falsification: Manipulating research materials, images, data,

equipment, or processes. Falsification includes changing or omitting
data or results in such a way that the research is not accurately
represented.1 A person might falsify data to make it fit with the
desired end result of a study.

 Both fabrication and falsification are serious forms of misconduct

because they result in a scientific record that does not accurately
reflect observed truth.
 Scientific Misconduct
 Plagiarism
 Authors must not use the words, figures, or ideas of others
without attribution. All sources must be cited at the point
they are used, and reuse of wording must be limited and
be attributed or quoted in the text.

 Plagiarism ranges from the unreferenced use of others’

published and unpublished ideas, including research grant
applications to submission under “new” authorship of a
complete paper, sometimes in a different language.

 It may occur at any stage of planning, research, writing, or

publication: it applies to print and electronic versions.
 What is Conflict of Interest?
 Conflicts of interest (COIs, also known as ‘competing
interests’) occur when issues outside research could be
reasonably perceived to affect the neutrality or objectivity
of the work or its assessment. This can happen at any stage
in the research cycle, including during the experimentation
phase, while a manuscript is being written, or during the
process of turning a manuscript into a published article.

 Conflict of interest is a set of conditions in which

professional judgement concerning a primary interest (such
as the validity of a research study) tends to be unduly
influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain).
....or may give that impression.
 Conflicts include the following:

 Financial — funding and other payments, goods

and services received or expected by the authors
relating to the subject of the work or from an
organization with an interest in the outcome of
the work.

 Affiliations — being employed by, on the

advisory board for, or a member of an
organization with an interest in the outcome of
the work.
 Conflicts include the following:

 Intellectual property — patents or trademarks

owned by someone or their organization

 Personal — friends, family, relationships, and

other close personal connections

 Ideology — beliefs or activism, for example,

political or religious, relevant to the work

 Academic — competitors or someone whose

work is critiqued
 International Code of Ethics in Research &
Publication
 Few of the international codes and policies include:

 Code of Ethics from the International Sociological

Association

 Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights from

UNESCO

 International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research

Involving Human Subjects from the Council for International
Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS)

 Declaration of Helsinki from the World Medical Association

 International Code of Ethics in Research &
Publication
 Few of the international codes and policies include:

 Nuremberg Code

 The Chemical Professional's Code of Conduct from the

American Chemical Society

 Singapore Statement on Research Integrity

 ICH Guidelines from The International Council for

Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for
Pharmaceuticals for Human Use
 International Code of Ethics in Research &
Publication
 Shamoo and Resnik have effectively summarized the important
ethical requirements for researchers

1. Integrity: Fulfil your promises and obliga-tions of your agreements.

Show sincerity and consistency in your actions and thoughts.

2. Honesty: Communicate and report your research data, results,

methods, procedures, and publication status honestly. Strictly avoid
falsification, fabrication, and misrepresentation of research output.

3. Objectivity: Avoid bias in experiment/study design, data analysis,

data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, and grant
writing. Disclose both personal and financial interests.
 International Code of Ethics in Research &
Publication

4. Competence: Strive to improve your expertise and take

effective steps to advance competence in your field.

5. Carefulness: Maintain a good record of your research

activities including data collection and correspondences
with journals. Examine your work thoroughly with peers to
avoid errors.

6. Openness: Share your data, results, tools, resources, and

ideas.

7. Legality: Adhere to required governmental and institutional

laws/policies
 International Code of Ethics in Research &
Publication
8. Confidentiality: Maintain confidentiality of important
information such as patient records, trade or military
secrets, grant applications, and papers submitted for
publication.

9. Non-discrimination: Avoid discrimination against colleagues

or students based on gender, sex, ethnicity, race, or religion.

10. Respect for Intellectual Property: Do not use published or

unpublished material without permission. Avoid plagiarism!
Acknowledge and credit the original author/creator. Follow
obligations related to a patent, copyright, trademark, and
more.
 International Code of Ethics in Research &
Publication
11. Responsible Publication: Avoid duplicate publication. Follow
publication ethics to advance science and not just your career.

12. Responsible Mentoring: Encourage, educate, mentor, and advise

students.

13. Social Responsibility: Advocate and advance public interests and

health through your research.

14. Animal Care: Show respect and care for animals in a study by
avoiding bad study designs and experiments.

15. Human Subjects Protection: Maintain respect, confidentiality,

welfare, and dignity of human subjects involved in clinical studies.
Minimize any risk/harm to the study population.
 Why Do Publication Ethics Matter?

 Honest scientific reports build trust among

peers and within scientific community.

 Published research influences other

researchers and establishes credibility for
individual or journal.
 Importance of Publication Ethics

 It ensures scientific progress

 It protects life and the planet

 It promotes ethical behavior

 It’s good for your reputation

 It’s the only way

 Importance of Publication Ethics
 It ensures Scientific Progress: Truth is the foundation of science and the
progress of ideas. The scientific community thrives only when each
participant publishes with integrity.

 It protects life and the planet: Publishing ethically ensures that we have
trusted information on which to build future therapies, technologies, and
policies. Published work based on fraudulent data can form an
inappropriate basis for follow up studies leading to patients, communities,
or habitats.

 It promotes ethical behavior: Doing the right thing sets an example and
reinforces our responsibility to our peers and society at large (who
generally pay for our work). Believing our or are above the law can lead
those who don’t know better into believing the same.
 Importance of Publication Ethics

 It’s good for your reputation: There’s nothing like getting

published and being able to accept credit and accolades for a
job well done. Do it the right way. A published paper is a
permanent record of your work. Don’t become part of the
minority who end up with a retracted paper and a tarnished
reputation.

 It’s the only way: A good reputation and acting with integrity
opens the door to opportunity. Your work represents not
only you but the research institution, the funding body, and
other researchers.
 Importance of Publication Ethics

 Why is it important for you as a researcher to

follow these ethical codes? How does adherence
to these can impact your credibility and repute in
the scientific community?

 Firstly, these ethical codes not only help maintain

scientific integrity but also safeguard the primary
aim of conducting the research i.e. to promote
knowledge and truth.
 Importance of Publication Ethics

 Secondly, these values promote trust, respect, and objectivity

in a collaborative work environment by avoiding conflicts
related to authorship, copyrights, and others. Moreover, these
codes help maintain the safety and interest of human subjects
and ensure appropriate care of animal subjects in a clinical or
laboratory setting.

 Lastly, these ethical norms make researchers accountable for

the quality and outcome of the research that may directly or
indirectly affect public health and interests.