Page 106 - Academic and Research Book_WEB

CHAPTER 11

Sooner or Later Ethical Violations Get Exposed

Ramesh Ch. Deka and Ajanta Deka

In recent times, there have been many instances of ethical violations in research. We present here
some examples of violations of ethical practices in executing scientific research. We deliberate on the
three “cardinal sins” of scientific misconduct, FFP — Fabrication, Falsification, and Plagiarism. The
duplication of research articles is also highlighted. Such unethical practices cannot be hidden for long.
It is just a matter of time before such activities get uncovered.

‘Ethics’ refers to norms of conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
Research ethics is the application of moral rules and professional codes of conduct to the collection,
analysis, reporting and publication of information about research subjects, in particular active
acceptance of subjects’ right to privacy, confidentiality and informed consent. In research, adherence
1
to ethical norms is very important. While there are several reasons for this, the notable ones are
promotion of aims of research and developing values that are essential for collaborative work,
accountability to the public and uplifting moral and social values. We learn our first lesson on ethics at
home. Religious background also helps in building strong ethics in research. Apart from the learning
from family and friends, students learn research ethics from their research advisor, fellow students,
other faculty members at the Institute, discussions in the laboratories, seminars, and courses dealing
with ethical issues.

When a student joins a group as a researcher, he/she is expected to adhere to three sets of obligations
(Kamat, 2015):
1. Honour the trust that the research mentor or the university administrators;

2. Discover or invent something new; and
3. Do something useful for the society.
However, irresponsible conduct in research can make it impossible to achieve significant outcomes.
The findings of any research have to be shared in the form of paper publications or conference
presentations. Publishing a research article is the culmination of months, and sometimes years, of
meticulous planning, execution, and analyses of hundreds of experiments or calculations (Benos, et
al., 2005).In most cases, funds for research projects come from public money. Therefore, it is expected

that research works will be honestly conducted and reported in the form a patent or publication
in a reputed journal. There is nothing like ,“only I can do this kind of work” in science. If “I can”
then it is doable by anybody else. If the research is not published, then one cannot claim that it was
done. According to Whitesides (2004), “A paper is an organized description of hypotheses, data and
conclusions, intended to instruct the reader. If your research does not generate papers, it might just as
well not have been done.” Publishing a research paper is a team effort involving authors, editors, and
reviewers. People who make direct and significant intellectual contribution to the design of research,
interpretation of data, explanation of results, or writing of the manuscript should be included as
authors. Inclusion of honorary, guest, or gift authors is not part of the ethical practice of research
publications. While choosing editors or reviewers one should be cautious not to include friends.
Choosing people who will not challenge one’s research in any way is also a violation of ethics as the
primary purpose of the reviewing process get defeated. Critical but objective reviewers, who point

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND RESEARCH QUALITY | 95