Research misconduct means fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. (a) is making up data or results and recording or reporting them. (b) is manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. (c) is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. (d) Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion. Print Figure 1.7: Person Holding Laboratory Flask Basic Research MisconductKnown as the three “cardinal sins” of research conduct, falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism (FFP) are the primary concerns in avoiding research misconduct. Any divergence from these norms undermines the integrity of research for that individual, lab, university/corporation, and the field as a whole. FalsificationFalsification is the changing or omission of research results (data) to support claims, hypotheses, other data, etc. Falsification can include the manipulation of research instrumentation, materials, or processes. Manipulation of images or representations in a manner that distorts the data or “reads too much between the lines” can also be considered falsification. FabricationFabrication is the construction and/or addition of data, observations, or characterizations that never occurred in the gathering of data or running of experiments. Fabrication can occur when “filling out” the rest of experiment runs, for example. Claims about results need to be made on complete data sets (as is normally assumed), where claims made based on incomplete or assumed results is a form of fabrication. PlagiarismPlagiarism is, perhaps, the most common form of research misconduct. Researchers must be aware to cite all sources and take careful notes. Using or representing the work of others as your own work constitutes plagiarism, even if committed unintentionally. When reviewing privileged information, such as when reviewing grants or journal article manuscripts for peer review, researchers must recognize that what they are reading cannot be used for their own purposes because it cannot be cited until the work is published or publicly available. “Cases of misconduct in science involving fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism breach the trust that allows scientists to build on others’ work, as well as eroding the trust that allows policymakers and others to make decisions based on scientific and objective evidence. The inability or refusal of research institutions to address such cases can undermine both the integrity of the research process and self-governance by the research community.” Behavior that would be considered scientific misconduct could occur at all points in a research protocol. You could encounter different types of scientific research misconduct at different stages, right from the origination of different types of scientific studies itself to the publication of the results. Listed below are the top 10 transgressions that peer reviewers and journal editors look for, incorporating content from both the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and the US Office of Research Integrity:
It’s a Question of IntegrityIn terms of severity, any misconduct that damages the integrity of the research process, specifically the steps of the Scientific Method, is considered to be a greater transgression than any subsequent misconduct in the publication of research results. Obviously, falsification of data is a much larger transgression than excluding an eligible co-author.
However, since many of the instances of misconduct listed above can carry severe penalties, including loss of licensure and imprisonment, every effort must be made to distinguish between honest human error and deliberate intent to defraud. What do you think are the top 3 reasons why researchers commit research misconduct?A range of possible reasons were posited: (1) career and funding pressures, (2) institutional failures of oversight, (3) commercial conflicts of interest, (4) inadequate training, (5) erosion of standards of mentoring, and (6) part of a larger pattern of social deviance.
What are research misconduct explain each?Research misconduct is defined as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results, according to 42 CFR Part 93 . IMPORTANT: Research misconduct does NOT include honest error or differences of opinion.
What are the research misconduct of researchers?Research misconduct is defined as fabrification, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. Fabrification is making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
What is the most common form of research misconduct?Plagiarism is, perhaps, the most common form of research misconduct. Researchers must be aware to cite all sources and take careful notes.
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