ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE PUBLICATION OF RESEARCH

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ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE PUBLICATION OF RESEARCH

• Muhammad Taher Abuelmaatti
• Department of Electrical Engineering
• King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

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Major Objectives of Graduate Studies

• To develop , synthesize, and disseminate
  knowledge.
• To promote research and scholarship.
• To prepare highly qualified personnel for service
  and leadership in academia and industry.
• To improve the quality of undergraduate education
  through its interaction with graduate programs.

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Importance of Scientific Publications

• To communicate scientific information.
• To determine academic promotion.
• To establish priority for funding and awards.
• To open doors to jobs, referrals, community
  recognition and prestige.
• In many occasions it is the sole basis for
  academic advances.

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Journal Publications

• Publication of research results in journals is
  the way that results have been recorded for
  centuries, and it remains the major way that
  scientists communicate.

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Authors List

• ? All persons designated as authors should
  qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify
  should be listed.
• ? The listed coauthors of a paper should be all
  persons who have made significant scientific
  contributions to the concept, design, execution
  and interpretation of the work reported. Other
  contributions should be indicated in a footnote
  or an acknowledgement section.

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Authorship Criteria

• Authorship credit should be based on
• 1. Substantial contributions to conception and
  design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and
  interpretation of data
• 2. Drafting the article or revising it
  critically for important intellectual content
• 3. Final approval of the version to be
  published.
• Conditions 1, 2 and 3 must all be met.

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Authorship Criteria (continued)

• The following, by themselves, do not justify
  authorship
• 1. Acquisition of funding.
• 2. Advising on statistical analysis.
• 3. Collection or entering data.
• 4. General supervision or conducting
• routine observation of the research group.
  
• 5. Assisting in manuscript preparation.

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Undeserved Authorship

• ? Honorary (gift) authorship is the assigning
  of authorship to persons because of their
  authority or prestige, or as courtesy.
• Why it
  happens?
• a. Academic promotion policies.
• b. Improving chances of publication.
• c. Fear of offending someone who have
  substantial power.
• d. Pressure from another coauthor.
• e. Explicit demand.
• f. Maintaining good interpersonal and
  working relationships.
• g. Survival.
• h. Gaining favor.
• In all cases, usually a
  reciprocation is expected.

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Undeserved Authorship (continued)

• Ghost (guest) authorship excluding from the list
  of authors the persons that meet the authorship
  criteria. In this case , the person who actually
  wrote the article and/or done the work in not
  included. This person (ghost author) may be hired
  by someone else who either does not know or do
  not have time to write the paper.
• Why it happens?
• a. To meet academic promotion policies.
• b. For survival and/or financial reasons.

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Victims of Undeserved Authorship

• Junior faculty and researchers.
• Granting agencies.
• Post-doctors or visiting scientists.
• Graduate students.
• Individuals whose job is dependent on
  publications.
• Those who are no longer employed when a paper is
  written.

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Useful Ethical Guidelines for Publication of
Research

• Misappropriation of authorship (i.e. awarding
  guest and ghost authorship), is incompatible with
  the principles, duties, and ethical
  responsibilities involved in scientific
  publication. It can be described as
  prepublication plagiarism. These guidelines
  emphasize the ethical practices expected of
  persons engaged in the publication of research.

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• 1. The first author is usually an individual,
  irrespective of seniority, who has conceived or
  contributed significantly towards conceiving the
  idea of the work and who has taken the lead in
  overseeing and writing up the component of the
  work which is the subject of the paper.

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• 2. In papers with more than one author, the order
  of authorship should reflect the relative
  contributions of various participants.
• 3. Substantial contribution would require an
  individual to have contributed to the following
• a. The conception and design, or acquisition
  of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
• b. Drafting the article or revising it
  critically for important intellectual content
  (not just editing).
• c. Final approval of the version to be
  published.

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• 4. Individuals who make substantial contributions
  to the writing of a paper based on a research
  project of which he is not a team member should
  have authorship credit.
• 5. Gift and ghost authorship should not be
  encouraged. In no instance should an individual
  name be included as author without his written
  consent.

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• 6. Contribution of those who have performed
  support functions such as providing technical
  assistance or those involved in data collection
  must be acknowledged.
• 7. Papers resulting from a team project must
  acknowledge those team members who may not have
  made substantial contribution to the paper.
  Similarly funding sources should be acknowledged.

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• 8. At the inception of any research project,
  which is expected to lead to one or more
  publications, participants should discuss
  authorship criteria and authorship credit
  mechanism and reach agreement on these issues.
• 9. Authorship should not be presumed as a right
  based on status or mere association with a
  research project without substantial
  contribution.

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• 10. Based on the significance of their
  contributions, students should be able to claim
  first authorship for papers based on their own
  research to which a faculty may have made a
  contribution for publication in a journal. When a
  student contributes little to the writing of the
  paper the supervisor may be the first author.

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• 11. If a dispute or concern arises with respect
  to authorship, the student, researcher and his
  supervisor should first try to resolve any
  differences informally. If a discussion with the
  supervisor does not resolve the problem, several
  avenues of dispute resolution must be established
  within the department, deanship of research and
  the university research council.

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• Thank You