Being A Scientist
Being A Scientist
Being A Scientist
org/12192
DETAILS
82 pages | 6 x 9 | PAPERBACK
ISBN 978-0-309-11970-2 | DOI 10.17226/12192
CONTRIBUTORS
Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy; National Academy of
Sciences; National Academy of Engineering; Institute of Medicine
BUY THIS BOOK
Visit the National Academies Press at nap.edu and login or register to get:
– Access to free PDF downloads of thousands of publications
– 10% off the price of print publications
– Email or social media notifications of new titles related to your interests
– Special offers and discounts
All downloadable National Academies titles are free to be used for personal and/or non-commercial
academic use. Users may also freely post links to our titles on this website; non-commercial academic
users are encouraged to link to the version on this website rather than distribute a downloaded PDF
to ensure that all users are accessing the latest authoritative version of the work. All other uses require
written permission. (Request Permission)
This PDF is protected by copyright and owned by the National Academy of Sciences; unless otherwise
indicated, the National Academy of Sciences retains copyright to all materials in this PDF with all rights
reserved.
On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research: Third Edition
ON BEING
A SCIENTIST
A GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT IN RESEARCH
T H I R D E D I T I O N
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Gov-
erning Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the
councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineer-
ing, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for
the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate
balance.
This study was supported by Contract/Grant No. SES-0450918 between the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation. Any opinions,
findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of
the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies
that provided support for the project.
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500
Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202)
334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter
of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding en-
gineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members,
sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the
federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineer-
ing programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research,
and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is presi-
dent of the National Academy of Engineering.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sci-
ences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the
Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government.
Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the
Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy
of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to
the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The
Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine.
Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively,
of the National Research Council.
www.national-academies.org
vi
vii
viii
Preface
ix
Preface
Preface xi
xii Preface
Ralph J. Cicerone
President, National Academy of Sciences
Charles M. Vest
President, National Academy of Engineering
Harvey V. Fineberg
President, Institute of Medicine
Acknowledgments
xiv Acknowledgments
A Note on Using
On Being a Scientist
xv
Contents
xvii
xviii Contents
Additional Resources 57
Skelton, R. Forecast Earth: The Story of Climate Scientist Inez Fung. Washington, DC:
On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Introduction
Terminology:
Values, Standards, and Practices
Research is based on the same ethical values that apply in everyday
life, including honesty, fairness, objectivity, openness, trustworthiness, and
respect for others.
A “scientific standard” refers to the application of these values in the
context of research. Examples are openness in sharing research materials,
fairness in reviewing grant proposals, respect for one’s colleagues and
students, and honesty in reporting research results.
The most serious violations of standards have come to be known
as “scientific misconduct.” The U.S. government defines misconduct as
“fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism (FFP) in proposing, performing,
or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.” All research
institutions that receive federal funds must have policies and procedures
in place to investigate and report research misconduct, and anyone who
is aware of a potential act of misconduct must follow these policies and
procedures.
Scientists who violate standards other than FFP are said to engage in
“questionable research practices.” Scientists and their institutions should
act to discourage questionable research practices (QRPs) through a broad
range of formal and informal methods in the research environment. They
should also accept responsibility for determining which questionable re-
search practices are serious enough to warrant institutional penalties.
Standards apply throughout the research enterprise, but “scientific
practices” can vary among disciplines or laboratories. Understanding
both the underlying standards and the differing practices in research is
important to working successfully with others.
On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Advising a n d M e n t o r i n g
A Change of Plans
Joseph came back from a brief summer vacation convinced that he
would be able to finish up his Ph.D. in one more semester. Though he had
not discussed the status of his thesis with his adviser or any other member
of his thesis committee since the spring, he was sure they would agree that
he could finish up quickly. In fact, he had already begun drawing up a list
of companies to which he planned to apply for a research position.
However, when his research adviser heard about his plans, she im-
mediately objected. She told him that the measurements he had made
were not going to be enough to satisfy his dissertation committee. She
said that he should plan to spend at least two more semesters on campus
doing additional measurements and finishing his dissertation.
Joseph had always had a good working relationship with his adviser,
and her advice had been very helpful in the past. Plus, he knew that he
would need a good recommendation from her to get the jobs that he
wanted. But he couldn’t help but wonder if her advice this time might be
self-serving, since her own research would benefit greatly from the ad-
ditional set of measurements.
On Being a S c i e n t i s t
a For additional questions, please see: Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy,
Phillip A. Griffiths, Chair, Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students
in Science and Engineering, National Academy Press, 1997. 84 pp.
Advising a n d M e n t o r i n g
On Being a S c i e n t i s t
T h e T r e a t m e n t o f D a t a
10 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
T h e T r e a t m e n t o f D a t a 11
12 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
M i s ta k e s a n d N e g l i g e n c e 13
Changing Knowledge
In the early part of the 20th century, astronomers engaged in a
prolonged debate over what were then known as spiral nebulae—diffuse
pinwheels of light that powerful telescopes revealed to be common in
the night sky. Some astronomers thought that these nebulae were spiral
galaxies like the Milky Way at such great distances from the Earth that
individual stars could not be distinguished. Others believed that they were
clouds of gas within our own galaxy.
One astronomer who thought that spiral nebulae were within the
Milky Way, Adriaan van Maanen of the Mount Wilson Observatory,
sought to resolve the issue by comparing photographs of the nebulae
taken several years apart. After making a series of painstaking measure-
ments, van Maanen announced that he had found roughly consistent
unwinding motions in the nebulae. The detection of such motions indicated
that the spirals had to be within the Milky Way, since motions would be
impossible to detect in distant objects.
Van Maanen’s reputation caused many astronomers to accept a ga-
lactic location for the nebulae. A few years later, however, van Maanen’s
colleague Edwin Hubble, using a new 100-inch telescope at Mount
Wilson, conclusively demonstrated that the nebulae were in fact distant
galaxies; van Maanen’s observations had to be wrong.
Studies of van Maanen’s procedures have not revealed any inten-
tional misrepresentation or sources of systematic error. Rather, he was
working at the limits of observational accuracy, and his expectations
influenced his measurements. Even cautious researchers sometimes admit,
“If I hadn’t believed it, I never would have seen it.”
14 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Discovering an Error
Two young faculty members—Marie, an epidemiologist in the medi-
cal school, and Yuan, a statistician in the mathematics department—have
published two well-received papers about the spread of infections in pop-
ulations. As Yuan is working on the simulation he has created to model
infections, he realizes that a coding error has led to incorrect results that
were published in the two papers. He sees, with great relief, that correct-
ing the error does not change the average time it takes for an infection
to spread. But the correct model exhibits greater uncertainty in its results,
making predictions about the spread of an infection less definite.
When he discusses the problem with Marie, she argues against
sending corrections to the journals where the two earlier articles were
published. “Both papers will be seen as suspect if we do that, and the
changes don’t affect the main conclusions in the papers anyway,” she
says. Their next paper will contain results based on the corrected model,
and Yuan can post the corrected model on his Web page.
R e s e a r c h M i s c o n d u c t 15
Research Misconduct
Some research behaviors are so at odds with the core principles of
science that they are treated very harshly by the scientific commu-
nity and by institutions that oversee research. Anyone who engages
in these behaviors is putting his or her scientific career at risk and
is threatening the overall reputation of science and the health and
welfare of the intended beneficiaries of research.
Collectively these actions have come to be known as scientific
misconduct. A statement developed by the U.S. Office of Science
and Technology Policy, which has been adopted by most research-
funding agencies, defines misconduct as “fabrication, falsification,
or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in
reporting research results.” According to the statement, the three ele-
ments of misconduct are defined as follows:
16 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
A Breach of Trust
Beginning in 1998, a series of remarkable papers attracted great
attention within the condensed matter physics community. The papers,
based largely on work done at Bell Laboratories, described methods that
could create carbon-based materials with long-sought properties, includ-
ing superconductivity and molecular-level switching. However, when other
materials scientists sought to reproduce or extend the results, they were
unsuccessful.
In 2001, several physicists inside and outside Bell Laboratories be-
gan to notice anomalies in some of the papers. Several contained figures
that were very similar, even though they described different experimental
systems. Some graphs seemed too smooth to describe real-life systems.
Suspicion quickly fell on a young researcher named Jan Hendrik Schön,
who had helped create the materials, had made the physical measure-
ments on them, and was a coauthor on all the papers.
Bell Laboratories convened a committee of five outside researchers to
examine the results published in 25 papers. Schön, who had conducted
part of the work in the laboratory where he did his Ph.D. at the Univer-
sity of Konstanz in Germany, told the committee that the devices he had
studied were no longer running or had been thrown away. He also said
that he had deleted his primary electronic data files because he did not
have room to store them on his old computer and that he kept no data
notebooks while he was performing the work.
The committee did not accept Schön’s explanations and eventually
concluded that he had engaged in fabrication in at least 16 of the 25
papers. Schön was fired from Bell Laboratories and later left the United
States. In a letter to the committee, he wrote that “I admit I made various
mistakes in my scientific work, which I deeply regret.” Yet he maintained
that he “observed experimentally the various physical effects reported in
these publications.”
The committee concluded that Schön acted alone and that his 20
coauthors on the papers were not guilty of scientific misconduct. How-
ever, the committee also raised the issue of the responsibility coauthors
have to oversee the work of their colleagues, while acknowledging that
no consensus yet exists on the extent of this responsibility. The senior
author on several of the papers, all of which were later retracted, wrote
that he should have asked Schön for more detailed data and checked his
work more carefully, but that he trusted Schön to do his work honestly. In
response to the incident, Bell Laboratories instituted new policies for data
retention and internal review of results before publication. It also devel-
oped a new research ethics statement for its employees.
R e s e a r c h M i s c o n d u c t 17
18 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Is It Plagiarism?
Professor Lee is writing a proposal for a research grant, and the
deadline for the proposal submission is two days from now. To complete
the background section of the proposal, Lee copies a few isolated sen-
tences of a journal paper written by another author. The copied sentences
consist of brief, factual, one-sentence summaries of earlier articles closely
related to the proposal, descriptions of basic concepts from textbooks,
and definitions of standard mathematical notations. None of these ideas
is due to the other author. Lee adds a one-sentence summary of the journal
paper and cites it.
R e s e a r c h M i s c o n d u c t 19
20 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Responding t o S u s p e c t e d V i o l a t i o n s 21
22 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Responding t o S u s p e c t e d V i o l a t i o n s 23
24 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
While IRBs are independent, they are local review committees that fall under
Responding t o S u s p e c t e d V i o l a t i o n s 25
Tests on Students
For his dissertation project in psychology, Antonio is studying new
approaches to strengthen memory. He can apply these techniques to cre-
ate interactive Web-based instructional modules. He plans to test these
modules with students in a general psychology course for which he is a
teaching assistant. He expects that student volunteers who use the modules
will subsequently perform better on examinations than other students. He
hopes to publish the results in a conference proceedings on research in
learning, because he plans to apply for an academic position after he
completes the doctorate.
1. Should Antonio seek IRB approval for his research project with
human participants?
2. What do students need to be told about Antonio’s project? Do they
need to give formal informed consent?
26 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
A Change of Protocol
Hua is doing a postdoctoral fellowship in a laboratory that studies
cancer treatment. In the experiment she is overseeing, a cancer-prone
strain of mice is allowed to develop visible tumors and then receives
experimental drugs to observe the effects on the tumors.
Hua notices that the tumors are interfering with the ability of some
of the mice to eat and drink. She also notices that some of the mice are
weaker and more emaciated than the others, which she suspects is a
consequence of their feeding difficulties. The protocol for the experiment
states that the mice will be treated only if they exhibit obvious signs of
pain or discomfort.
When she mentions her concerns to another postdoctoral fellow, he
suggests not raising the issue with the rest of the lab. The mice will be
euthanized as soon as the experiment is over, and their nutritional status
probably has little or no effect on the drug treatment. Furthermore, if it
proved necessary to change the experimental protocol, the previous work
would be invalidated and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Commit-
tee would need to be notified.
Responding t o S u s p e c t e d V i o l a t i o n s 27
the relevant regulations and the guide and must receive appropriate
training before beginning work.
The Animal Welfare Act and the Policy on the Humane Care and Use
of Laboratory Animals both require institutions to have Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), which include experts
in the care of animals and members of the public. These committees
review and approve research proposals using animals, oversee animal
care programs and facilities, and respond to concerns about the use
of animals in research. Also, private organizations like the American
Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care ac-
credit research institutions using existing regulations and the guide
as standards.
28 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Sharing o f R e s e a r c h R e s u l t s 29
30 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
of others’ ideas. This allows readers to locate the original source the
author has used to justify a conclusion, and to find more detailed in-
formation about how earlier work was done and how the current work
differs. Researchers also are expected to treat the information in a
manuscript submitted to a journal to be considered for publication or
a grant proposal submitted to an agency for funding as confidential.
Proper citation, too, is essential to the value of a reference. When
analyzed carefully, many citation lists in published papers contain
numerous errors. Beyond incorrect spellings, titles, years, and page
numbers, citations may not be relevant to the current work or may
not support the points made in the paper. Authors may try to inflate
the importance of a new paper by including a reference to previously
published work but failing to clearly discuss the connection between
their new results and those reported in the previous study. Practices
such as responsible peer review are thus important tools to prevent
these problems.
Citations are important in interpreting the novelty and signifi-
cance of a paper, and they must be prepared carefully. Researchers
have a responsibility to search the literature thoroughly and to cite
prior work accurately. Implied in this responsibility is that authors
should strive to cite (and read) the original paper rather than (or in
addition to) a more recent paper or review article that relies on the
earlier article.
Researchers have other ways to disseminate research findings
in addition to peer-reviewed research articles. Some of these, such
as seminars, conference talks, abstracts, and posters represent long-
standing traditions within science. Generally, these communications
are seen as preliminary in nature, giving an author the chance to
get feedback on work in progress before full publication in a peer-
reviewed journal.
New communication technologies provide researchers with ad-
ditional ways to distribute research results quickly and broadly. For
example, raw data, computational models, the outputs of instruments,
Sharing o f R e s e a r c h R e s u l t s 31
a William G. Schulz, “Giving Proper Credit: Ethics Violations by a Chemist in Sweden High-
light Science’s Unpreparedness to Deal with Misconduct” Chemical and Engineering News
85 (12):35-38.
32 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Publication Practices
Andre, a young assistant professor, and two graduate students have
been working on a series of related experiments for the past several years.
Now it is time to write up the experiments for publication, but the students
and Andre must first make an important decision. They could write a
single paper with one first author that would describe the experiments in
a comprehensive manner, or they could write two shorter, less-complete
papers so that each student could be a first author.
Andre favors the first option, arguing that a single publication in a
more visible journal would better suit all of their purposes. This alternative
also would help Andre, who faces a tenure decision in two years. Andre’s
students, on the other hand, strongly suggest that two papers be prepared.
They argue that one paper encompassing all the results would be too
long and complex. They also say that a single paper might damage their
career opportunities because they would not be able to point to a paper
on which they were first authors.
1. How could Andre have anticipated this problem? And what sort of
general guidelines could he have established for lab members?
2. If Andre’s laboratory or institution has no official policies covering
multiple authorship and multiple papers from a single study, how should
this issue be resolved?
3. How could Andre and the students draw on practices within their
discipline to resolve this dispute?
4. If the students feel that their concerns are not being addressed, to
whom should they turn?
5. What kind of laboratory or institutional policies could keep dis-
putes like this from occurring?
6. If a single paper is published, how can the authors make clear
to review committees and funding agencies their various roles and the
importance of the paper?
Sharing o f R e s e a r c h R e s u l t s 33
34 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Authorship and t h e A l l o c a t i o n o f C r e d i t 35
36 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
ceive much of the credit for the project even if the second researcher
makes major contributions. Similarly, when an established researcher
initiates a project, that individual may receive more credit than a
beginning researcher who spends much of his or her time working
on the project. When a beginning researcher makes an intellectual
contribution to a project, that contribution deserves to be recognized,
including when the work is undertaken independently of the labora-
tory’s principal investigator. Established researchers are well aware of
the importance of credit in science where traditions expect them to
be generous in their allocation of credit to beginning researchers.
Sometimes a name is included in a list of authors even though
that person had little or nothing to do with the content of a paper. In-
cluding “honorary,” “guest,” or “gift” authors dilutes the credit due the
people who actually did the work, inflates the credentials of the added
authors, and makes the proper attribution of credit more difficult.
Journals, the administrators of research institutions, and researchers
should all work to avoid this practice. Similarly, ghost authorship,
Authorship and t h e A l l o c a t i o n o f C r e d i t 37
where a person who writes a paper is not listed among the authors,
misleads readers and also should be condemned.
Policies at most scientific journals state that a person should be
listed as the author of a paper only if that person made a direct and
substantial intellectual contribution to the design of the research, the
interpretation of the data, or the drafting of the paper, although stu-
dents will find that scientific fields and specific journals vary in their
policies. Just providing the laboratory space for a project or furnish-
ing a sample used in the research is not sufficient to be included as an
author, though such contributions may be recognized in a footnote
or in a separate acknowledgments section. The acknowledgments sec-
tions also can be used to thank others who contributed to the work
reported by the paper.
The list of authors establishes accountability as well as credit.
When a paper is found to contain errors, whether caused by mistakes
or deceit, authors might wish to disavow responsibility, saying that
they were not involved in the part of the paper containing the errors
or that they had very little to do with the paper in general. However,
an author who is willing to take credit for a paper must also bear re-
sponsibility for its errors or explain why he or she had no professional
responsibility for the material in question.
The distribution of accountability can be especially difficult
in interdisciplinary research. Authors from one discipline may say
that they are not responsible for the accuracy of material provided
by authors from another discipline. A contrasting view is that each
author needs to be confident of the accuracy of everything in the
paper—perhaps by having a trusted colleague read the parts of the
paper outside one’s own discipline. One obvious but often overlooked
solution to this problem is to add a footnote accompanying the list
of authors that apportions responsibility for different parts of the
paper.
38 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Intellectual Property 39
Intellectual Property
Discoveries made through scientific research can have great value—
to researchers in advancing knowledge, to governments in setting
public policy, and to industry in developing new products. Research-
ers should be aware of this potential value and of the interest of their
laboratories and institutions in it, know how to protect their own
interests, and be familiar with the rules governing the fair and proper
use of ideas.
In some cases, benefiting from a new idea may require establish-
ing intellectual property rights through patents and copyrights, or by
treating the idea as a trade secret. Intellectual property is a legal right
to control the application of an idea in a specific context (through a
patent) or to control the expression of an idea (through a copyright).
Patent and copyright protections are legal mechanisms that seek to
strike a balance between private gains and public benefits. They give
researchers, nonprofit organizations, and companies the right to
profit from a new idea. In return, the property owner must make the
new idea public, which enables others to build on the idea.
A patent owner can protect his or her intellectual property rights
by excluding others from making, using, or selling an invention so
long as the patent owner provides a full description of how the in-
vention is made, is used, and functions. Researchers doing patentable
work may have special obligations to the sponsors of that work, such
as having laboratory notebooks witnessed and disclosing an inven-
tion promptly to the patent official of the organization sponsoring
the research. U.S. patent law provides clear criteria that define who
is an inventor, and it is very important that all who have contributed
substantially to an invention (and no one else) be included in a patent
application.
Copyright issues are becoming more prominent as digital tech-
nologies have made copying and distributing information easier.
Copyrights protect the expression or presentation of ideas, but they
40 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
Intellectual Property 41
42 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
A Commercial Opportunity?
Shen was always interested in bioinformatics and decided to use
some of his free time to write a program that others in his microbial ge-
netics laboratory would find useful. Starting with a popular spreadsheet
program on his university-provided computer, he wrote the program over
the summer and posted it on his personal Web page as a bundle that
combined the spreadsheet program and his own program. Over the next
academic year, he improved his program several times based partly on
the feedback he got from the people in his laboratory who were using
it.
At national meetings, he discovered that researchers in other labora-
tories had begun to download and use his program package, and friends
told him that they knew of researchers who were using it in industry. When
the issue arose in a faculty meeting, Shen’s faculty adviser told him that
he should talk with the university’s technology transfer office about com-
mercializing it. “After all,” his adviser said, “if you don’t, a company will
probably copy it and sell it and benefit from your hard work.”
The director of the technology transfer office was much more con-
cerned about another issue: the fact that Shen had been redistributing the
spreadsheet in violation of its license. “You do have rights to what you cre-
ated, but the company that sells this spreadsheet also has rights,” he said.
“We need to talk about this before we talk about commercialization.”
C o m p e t i n g I n t e r e s t s 43
44 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
C o m p e t i n g I n t e r e s t s 45
A Conflict of Commitment
Sandra was excited about being accepted as a graduate student
in the laboratory of Dr. Frederick, a leading scholar in her field, and
she embarked on her assigned research project eagerly. But after a few
months she began to have misgivings. Though part of Dr. Frederick’s work
was supported by federal grants, the project on which she was working
was totally supported by a grant from a single company. She had asked
Dr. Frederick about this before coming to his lab, and he had assured her
that he did not think that the company’s support would conflict with her
education. But the more Sandra worked on the project, the more it seemed
skewed toward questions important to the company. For instance, there
were so many experiments she needed to carry out for the company’s
research that she was unable to explore some of the interesting basic
questions raised by her work or to develop her own ideas in other areas.
Although she was learning a lot, she worried that her ability to publish
her work would be limited and that she would not have a coherent dis-
sertation. Also, she had heard from some of the other graduate students
doing company-sponsored work that they had signed confidentiality
statements agreeing not to discuss their work with others, which made it
difficult to get advice. Dr. Frederick and the company’s researchers were
very excited about her results, but she wondered whether the situation
was the best for her.
46 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
C o m p e t i n g I n t e r e s t s 47
aMuggli, Monique E, Jean L. Forster, Richard D. Hurt, and James L. Repace. “The Smoke
You Don’t See: Uncovering Tobacco Industry Scientific Strategies Aimed against Environ-
mental Tobacco Smoke Policies.” American Journal of Public Health (September 2001);
91(9):1419-1423.
bTong, Elisa K. and Stanton A. Glantz. “Tobacco Industry Efforts Undermining Evidence Link-
48 On Being a S c i e n t i s t
T h e R e s e a r c h e r i n S o c i e t y 49
a Galston, Arthur W. Science and Social Responsibility: A Case History. Annals of the New
York Academy of Science (1972):196:223.
A pp e n d i x : D i s c u s s i o n o f C a s e S t u d i e s 51
52 A pp e n d i x : D i s c u s s i o n o f C a s e S t u d i e s
Even though Vijay did not introduce spurious results into science,
he fabricated the submission of the research paper and therefore
engaged in misconduct. Though his treatment by the department
might seem harsh, fabrication strikes so directly at the foundations
of science that it is not excusable.
This scenario also demonstrates that researchers and administra-
tors in an institution may differ on the appropriate course of action
to take when research ethics are violated. Researchers should think
carefully about what courses of action could be taken in such a case.
A pp e n d i x : D i s c u s s i o n o f C a s e S t u d i e s 53
Lee should strive to ensure that the proposal’s review of the literature
is accurate. Finally, Lee should imagine what might happen if the
author of the journal paper is asked to review Lee’s proposal.
54 A pp e n d i x : D i s c u s s i o n o f C a s e S t u d i e s
Guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals are designed
to both protect the welfare of animals and enhance the quality of
research. Both of these goals are being undermined by Hua’s action,
so who can they consult in the institution? What is the responsibility
of the laboratory and its leadership for animal welfare?
A pp e n d i x : D i s c u s s i o n o f C a s e S t u d i e s 55
A software license is a legal contract, and all users must honor it,
so Shen’s first task is to correct his unauthorized distribution of the
software. Once done, the commercialization decision can be made.
Many researchers have found themselves in a position similar to the
one Shen is in, and they have made different decisions. Some decide
that they will continue to provide a free service to their research com-
munities without seeking to commercialize a new idea or technique.
Others decide that commercialization will best serve their communi-
ties, themselves, their institutions, or—with luck—all of the parties
involved. As his adviser has suggested, Shen should work with the
technology transfer officer at his university to learn more about his
options.
56 A pp e n d i x : D i s c u s s i o n o f C a s e S t u d i e s
A d d i t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s 57
Additional Resources
General Guides to the Responsible Conduct of Research
Ahearne, J. F. The Responsible Researcher: Paths and Pitfalls. Research Triangle Park, NC: Sigma
Xi, The Scientific Research Society, 1999.
Barnbaum, D.R., and Byron, M. Research Ethics: Text and Readings. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 2001.
Beach, D. The Responsible Conduct of Research. New York: VCH Publishers, 1996.
Bulger, R. E., Heitman, E., and Reiser, S. J. The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological and Health
Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed., 2002.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Making the Right Moves:
A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty. Chevy Chase, MD:
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2004.
Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative. CITI Course in the Responsible Conduct
of Research: https://www.citiprogram.org/rcrpage.asp.
Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. Responsible Science: Ensuring the
Integrity of the Research Process, Vol. 1. Washington, DC: National Academy Press,
1992.
Comstock, G. L. Life Sciences Ethics. Ames, IA: Iowa State Press, 2002.
Djerassi, C., and Hoffmann, R. Oxygen. New York: Wiley-VCH, 2001.
Goodman, Allegra. Intuition: A Novel. Cambridge, MA: Dial Press, 2006.
Jackson, C. I. Honor in Science. Research Triangle Park, NC: Sigma Xi, The Scientific
Research Society, 2nd ed., 1986.
Kalichman M. “Ethics and Science: A 0.1% Solution.” Issues in Science and Technology (Fall
2006).
Kirby, K., and Houle, F. A. “Ethics and the Welfare of the Physics Profession.” Physics Today
(November 2004):42-46.
Korenman, S. G., and A. C. Shipp. Teaching the Responsible Conduct of Research through a Case
Study Approach: A Handbook for Instructors. Washington, DC: Association of American
Medical Colleges, 1997.
Macrina, F. L. Scientific Integrity: Text and Cases in Responsible Conduct of Research. Washington,
DC: ASM Press, 3rd ed., 2005.
Maddox, Brenda. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. New York: Harper-Collins,
2002.
Martinson, B.C., Anderson, M.S., and de Vries, R. “Scientists Behaving Badly.” Nature
435(2005):737-738.
Shamoo, A. E., and D. B. Resnik. Responsible Conduct of Research. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2003.
Skelton, R. Forecast Earth: The Story of Climate Scientist Inez Fung. Washington, DC: Joseph
Henry Press, 2005.
Steneck, N. H. Introduction to the Responsible Conduct of Research. Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office, rev. ed., 2004.
Steneck, N. H. “Fostering Integrity in Research: Definitions, Current Knowledge, and
Future Directions.” Science and Engineering Ethics 12(2006):53-74.
58 A d d i t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s
Teich, A. H., and Frankel, M. S. Good Science and Responsible Scientists: Meeting the Challenge
of Fraud and Misconduct in Science. Washington, DC: American Association for the
Advancement of Science, 1992.
Watson, J. D. The Double Helix. New York: Atheneum, 1968.
Wilkins, Maurice. The Third Man of the Double Helix: Autobiography. Oxford University Press,
2003.
Electronic Resources
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Integrity in Scientific Research:
http://www.aaas.org/spp/video/website.htm.
National Institutes of Health, Ethics Program: http://ethics.od.nih.gov.
The Online Ethics Center at the National Academy of Engineering: http://www.onlineethics.
org.
Office of Research Integrity. Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). August 6, 2006.
<http://ori.hhs.gov/education>.
On-line Sources for Research Ethics: http://www.unmc.edu/ethics/links.html.
Open Seminar in Research Ethics: http://openseminar.org/ethics.
Open Seminar in Research Ethics Online Community: http://gsoars.acsad.ncsu.edu:85/.
Resources for Research Ethics Education. University of California-San Diego. 2008:
http://research-ethics.net.
Responsible Conduct of Research. Columbia University: http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/rcr.
The Responsible Conduct of Research Education Consortium: http://rcrec.org.
The Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions: http://www.indiana.
edu/~poynter.
The Survival Skills and Ethics Program at the University of Pittsburgh: http://www.survival.
pitt.edu.
A d d i t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s 59
Electronic Resources
The American Association for the Advancement of Science, Professional Ethics Report:
http://www.aaas.org/spp/sfrl/per/per3.htm.
MentorNet: The E-Mentoring Network for Diversity in Science and Engineering: http://
www.mentornet.net.
Electronic Resources
The National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/
policy/data_sharing.
60 A d d i t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s
Electronic Resources
National Whistleblower Center: http://www.whistleblowers.org.
Office of Research Integrity, Handling Misconduct: http://ori.hhs.gov/misconduct.
Office of Research Integrity, ORI Model Policy and Procedures for Responding to
Allegations of Scientific Misconduct: http://ori.hhs.gov/documents/model_policy_responding_
allegations.pdf.
A d d i t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s 61
Electronic Resources
Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Regulations for the Protection of Human
Subjects: http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm. (This document is
often referred to as the “Common Rule.”)
Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Human Research Protections:
http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp.
Institute for Laboratory Animal Research: http://dels.nas.edu/ilar_n/ilarhome.
Institute of Laboratory Animal Research, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research
Council, Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (1996): http://www.nap.
edu/catalog.php?record_id=5140.
National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral
Research, The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human
Subjects of Research (1979): http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/belmont.htm.
National Institutes of Health, OER Human Subjects Web site: http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/
policy/hs.
National Institute of Health, Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, U.S. Public Health
Service’s Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (2002): http://
grants1.nih.gov/grants/olaw/references/PHSPolicyLabAnimals.pdf.
National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature: http://bioethics.georgetown.edu/nrc.
World Medical Association, Declaration of Helsinki: http://www.wma.net/e/policy/be.htm.
62 A d d i t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s
Council of Science Editors. CSE’s White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal
Publications. Reston, VA: Council of Science Editors, 2006.
Drenth, J. P. “Multiple Authorship: The Contribution of Senior Authors.” Journal of the
American Medical Association 280(1998):219-221.
Errami, M., and Garner, H. “A Tale of Two Citations.” Nature 451 (2008):397-399.
Fischer, B. A., and Zigmond, M. J. Scientific Publishing. Pp. 29-37 in Chadwick, R. (ed.),
Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, vol. 4. San Diego: Academic Press, 1998.
Huizenga, J. R. Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1993.
Jefferson, T. “Redundant Publication in Biomedical Sciences: Scientific Misconduct or
Necessity?” Science and Engineering Ethics 4(1998):135-140.
Jones, A. H., and McLellan, F. Ethical Issues in Biomedical Publication. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2000.
Lang, T. A., and Secic, M. How to Report Statistics in Medicine: Annotated Guidelines for Authors,
Editors, and Reviewers. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians, 1997.
Electronic Resources
American Chemical Society Ethical Guidelines for Publications: http://pubs.acs.org/ethics.
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, Uniform Requirements for
Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: http://www.icmje.org.
Intellectual Property
Serafin, R. J., and Uhlir, P. F. A Question of Balance: Private Rights and Public Interest in Scientific
and Technical Databases. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000.
Stevens, A. R. Ownership and Retention of Data. Washington, DC: National Association of
College and University Attorneys, 1997.
Electronic Resources
Council on Government Relations, Access to and Retention of Research Data: Rights and
Responsibilities: http://206.151.87.67/docs/DataRetentionIntroduction.htm.
National Academies, IP @ the National Academies: http://ip.nationalacademies.org.
University of Minnesota, Intellectual Property Online Workshop: http://www.research.umn.
edu/intellectualproperty.
A d d i t i o n a l R e s o u r c e s 63
Electronic Resources
Association of American Universities, Conflict of Interest and Misconduct: http://www.aau.
edu/research/conflict.cfm.
National Institutes of Health, Office of Extramural Research, Conflict of Interest: http://
grants1.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/.