Research Ethics for Scientists

Preface xi Acknowledgments xii About the Companion Website xiii Chapter 1 Research Ethics: The Best Ethical Practices Produce the Best Science 1 Judge yourself 6 Morality vs. ethics 6 Onward and upward 8 Inauspicious beginnings 8 How science works 10 Nothing succeeds like success 13 Summary 14 Chapter 2 How Honest Is Science? 15 Judge yourself 16 Sanctionable research misconduct: fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism 16 “Scientists behaving badly” 17 Do scientists behave worse with experience? 20 Judge yourself 20 Crime and punishment 21 Judge yourself 25 Discussion questions 27 Summary 28 Chapter 3 Research Misconduct: Plagiarize and Perish 29 Ideas 31 Sentences 32 Phrases 32 A hoppy example 33 What is plagiarism, really? 34 Judge yourself 34 How many consecutive identical and uncited words constitute plagiarism? 35 Self- plagiarism and recycling 36 Judge yourself 37 Judge yourself 44 Tools to discover plagiarism 46 iThenticate 46 References cited 48 Self- plagiarism and ethics revisited 51 Judge yourself 51 Is plagiarism getting worse? 52 The [true] case study: the plagiarizing novelist who also plagiarized her confession to plagiarism and the author of the website “Plagiarism Today” 54 Summary 55 Chapter 4 Finding the Perfect Mentor 56 Caveat 57 Choosing a mentor 58 Judge yourself 62 Choosing a graduate project 69 Judge yourself 69 Mentors for assistant professors 69 How to train your mentor 75 Discussion questions 78 Discussion questions 80 Summary 81 Chapter 5 Becoming the Perfect Mentor 82 Grants and contracts are a prerequisite to productive science 84 Judge yourself 85 Publications are the fruit of research 86 On a personal level 87 Judge yourself 88 Common and predictable mistakes scientist make at key stages in their training and careers and how being a good mentor can make improvements 88 Discussion questions 104 Summary 105 Chapter 6 Research Misconduct: Fabricating Data and Falsification 106 Why cheat? 107 Judge yourself 110 The case of Jan Hendrik Schön, “Plastic Fantastic” 110 The case of Woo- Suk Hwang: dog cloner, data fabricator 111 The case of Diederik Stapel, psychological serial fabricator 113 Judge yourself 114 Detection of image and data misrepresentation 116 Judge yourself 120 Lessons learnt 121 Summary 121 Chapter 7 Research Misconduct: Falsification and Whistleblowing 122 Reporting and adjudicating research misconduct 123 A “can of worms” indeed: the case of Elizabeth “Betsy” Goodwin 125 Judge yourself 128 Judge yourself 129 Judge yourself 131 Judge yourself 137 Judge yourself 140 Cultivating a culture of openness, integrity, and accountability 140 Summary 141 Chapter 8 Publication Ethics of Authorship: Who Is an Author on a Scientific Paper and Why 142 The importance of the scientific publication 143 Predatory publishing 145 Judge yourself 146 Who should be listed as an author on a scientific paper? 146 Judge yourself 150 How to avoid authorship quandaries and disputes 151 Authorship for works other than research papers 153 The difference between authorship on scientific papers and inventorship on patents 154 Other thoughts on authorship and publications 155 Judge yourself 157 Summary 162 Chapter 9 Grant Proposals: Ethics and Success Intertwined 163 Why funding is crucial 164 Judge yourself 168 Path to success in funding 168 Fair play and collaboration 170 Judge yourself 171 Judge yourself 173 Recordkeeping and fiscal responsibility 173 Pushing the limits on proposals 174 Summary 179 Chapter 10 Peer Review and the Ethics of Privileged Information 180 The history of peer review 181 The nature of journals and the purpose of peer review 182 Open- access journals vs. subscription journals 182 Which papers to review? 188 Open reviews and discussion 189 Judge yourself 190 Grant proposals 190 Confidentiality and privileged information 191 Reviewers 192 Judge yourself 192 Final thoughts 193 Summary 195 Chapter 11 Data and Data Management: The Ethics of Data 196 Stewardship of data 197 Judge yourself 199 Judge yourself 204 Judge yourself 208 The land of in- between: ethics of data presented at professional meetings 208 Judge yourself 213 Raw data, processed data, and data analysis: ways to go right and wrong 213 Summary 213 Discussion questions 215 Discussion questions 216 Chapter 12 Conflicts of Interest 217 The dynamic landscape of conflicts of interest 218 Potential conflicts of interest for university scientists 219 Judge yourself 226 Conflicts of interest within labs or universities 226 Judge yourself 228 Discussion questions 232 Discussion questions 237 Summary 238 Chapter 13 What Kind of Research Science World Do We Want? 239 A culture of discipline and an ethic of entrepreneurship 241 Judge yourself 243 Too much pressure? 243 Integrity awareness through ethics education 246 Accountability 246 Truth will win 247 We scientists 248 Summary 249 References 250 Index 256