Scientific misconduct

Scientific misconduct refers to the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the professional scientific research community. It encompasses a range of practices such as fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism (FFP), as well as other practices that deviate significantly from those that are widely accepted within the scientific community for proposing, conducting, or reporting research. It does not include honest errors or honest differences in interpretations or judgments of data.

Types of Scientific Misconduct

Fabrication

Fabrication involves making up data or results and recording or reporting them. This can include creating data for experiments that were never conducted or observations that were never made.

Falsification

Falsification 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.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. This can range from copying text verbatim to paraphrasing someone else's work without citation.

Consequences of Scientific Misconduct

The consequences of scientific misconduct can be severe for both the individual(s) involved and the scientific community as a whole. Individuals found guilty of misconduct may face sanctions from their institutions, loss of funding, retraction of publications, and damage to their reputation and career. For the scientific community, misconduct can undermine public trust in science, waste resources, and lead to the dissemination of false information.

Prevention and Detection

Institutions and funding agencies have established policies and procedures for handling allegations of scientific misconduct. These often include the promotion of responsible conduct of research through education and training, as well as mechanisms for reporting and investigating suspected misconduct.

Notable Cases

Several notable cases of scientific misconduct have highlighted the issue in the scientific community. These cases often involve high-profile researchers and can lead to significant media attention and public scrutiny.

See Also

• Research ethics
• Peer review
• Retraction
• Academic publishing