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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

PSC 3001 – Introduction to Senior Projects in Science. PROFESSIONAL ETHICS. Adapted from On Being a Scientist, 3 rd Ed. On Being a Scientist, 3 rd Edition. “The scientific enterprise is built on a foundation of trust.”

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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

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  1. PSC 3001 – Introduction to Senior Projects in Science PROFESSIONAL ETHICS Adapted from On Being a Scientist, 3rd Ed.

  2. On Being a Scientist, 3rd Edition • “The scientific enterprise is built on a foundation of trust.” • On Being a Scientist provides an overview of the professional standards of science This book was prepared under the auspices of the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, which is a joint committee of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12192

  3. Science is not easy! • “…the rewards of science are not easily achieved.” • Scientific breakthroughs are elusive • Researchers are often under pressure to produce results • There are many difficult decisions to make: • Design of experiments • Interpretation and presentation of results • Interactions with colleagues • Time and resource allocation • Credit for scientific accomplishments • Social and personal beliefs and values

  4. Research Misconduct • What is research misconduct? • The US government defines scientific misconduct as “fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism (FFP) in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.” • It does not include honest errors (unless uncorrected), differences of opinion or interpretation, or authorship debates • The Misconduct Scale: • Innocent Ignorance • Surprising Sloppiness • Malicious Malfeasance

  5. Innocent Ignorance • Misconduct of the uninformed kind • Noncompliance based on a true lack of understanding of the regulatory consequences of an action • The act itself is usually intentional, but the noncompliance is unintentional • The act is not usually done to deliberately deceive • Examples: • Backdating a signature on a consent form because a person forgot to date the form originally • Discarding source documents after accurate transcription and reporting transcribed data as original

  6. Surprising Sloppiness • Misconduct of the lazy kind • Noncompliance due to inaction, inattention to detail, inadequate staff, or a lack of supervision • The act itself may be intentional or unintentional • Noncompliance is unintentional and is usually repeated • Examples: • Consent forms inadvertently not obtained from test subjects • Data inaccurately transcribed or recorded • Data estimated rather than actually measured • Standard operating protocols ignored or shortcuts taken

  7. Malicious Malfeasance • Misconduct of the sleazy kind • Usually noncompliance due to deliberate action to deceive or mislead • Includes Fabrication, Falsification, and/or Plagarism(FFP) • See Research Misconduct handout for definitions of FFP • Examples: • Creating data that was never obtained • Altering data that was obtained by substituting different data • Omitting data that was obtained that would usually be recorded • Misrepresenting data from another source as your own

  8. Dealing with Scientific Misconduct • Prevention • Identify and eliminate or minimize risk factors for misconduct • Detection • Monitor and recognize signs of fraud • Correction • Promptly investigate and report fraud Have you recently heard of any cases of scientific misconduct in the news?

  9. A Breach of Trust How would you classify this type of research misconduct? • See story on page 16 of On Being a Scientist • Jan HendrikSchön, former physicist at Bell Laboratories

  10. Fabrication in a Grant Proposal • See case study on page 17 of On Being a Scientist • Vijay and the “submitted” manuscript • 1. Do you think that researchers often exaggerate the publication status of their work in written materials? • 2. Do you think the department acted too harshly in dismissing Vijay from the graduate program? • 3. If Vijay later applied to a graduate program at another institution, does that institution have the right to know what happened? • 4. What were Vijay’s adviser’s responsibilities in reviewing the application before it was submitted?

  11. Is It Plagiarism? • See case study on page 18 of On Being a Scientist • Professor Lee and the grant proposal • 1. Does the copying of a few isolated sentences in this case constitute plagiarism? • 2. By citing the journal paper, has Lee given proper credit to the other author?

  12. Research Misconduct in the News • Organometallics SI example from July 2013:

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