RESEARCH ETHICS

Definition
When most people think of ethics (or morals), they think
of rules for distinguishing between right and wrong,
such as the Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you"), a code of professional
conduct like the Hippocratic Oath ("First of all, do no
harm"), a religious creed like the Ten Commandments
("Thou Shalt not kill..."), or a wise aphorisms like the
sayings of Confucius. This is the most common way of
defining "ethics": norms for conduct that distinguish
between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
 Definition

Another way of defining 'ethics' focuses on the disciplines that

study standards of conduct, such as philosophy, theology, law,
psychology, or sociology. For example, a "medical ethicist" is
someone who studies ethical standards in medicine. One may
also define ethics as a method, procedure, or perspectivefor
deciding how to act and for analyzing complex problems and
issues. For instance, in considering a complex issue like
global warming, one may take an economic, ecological,
political, or ethical perspective on the problem. While an
economist might examine the cost and benefits of various
policies related to global warming, an environmental ethicist
could examine the ethical values and principles at stake.
 Where ethics are applied
Many different disciplines, institutions, and professions
have standards for behavior that suit their particular
aims and goals. These standards also help members of
the discipline to coordinate their actions or activities
and to establish the public's trust of the discipline. For
instance, ethical standards govern conduct in medicine,
law, engineering, and business. Ethical norms also serve
the aims or goals of research and apply to people
who conduct scientific research or other scholarly or
creative activities. There is even a specialized discipline,
research ethics, which studies these norms.
 Reasons for adhering to ethics
• There are several reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms in
research. First, norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge,
truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions againstfabricating,
falsifying, or misrepresenting research data promote the truth and minimize
error.
• Second, since research often involves a great deal of cooperation and
coordination among many different people in different disciplines and
institutions, ethical standards promote the values that are essential to
collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and
fairness. For example, many ethical norms in research, such as
guidelines for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data sharing
policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to protect
intellectual property interests while encouraging collaboration. Most
researchers want to receive credit for their contributions and do not want to
have their ideas stolen or disclosed prematurely.
 Reasons for adhering to ethics
• Third, many of the ethical norms help to ensure that researchers can be
held accountable to the public. For instance, federal policies on research
misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects protections, and animal
care and use are necessary in order to make sure that researchers who are funded
by public money can be held accountable to the public.
• Fourth, ethical norms in research also help to build public support for research.
People are more likely to fund a research project if they can trust the quality and
integrity of research.
• Finally, many of the norms of research promote a variety of other important moral
and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare,
compliance with the law, and public health and safety. Ethical lapses in research can
significantly harm human and animal subjects, students, and the public. For
example, a researcher who fabricates data in a clinical trial may harm or even kill
patients, and a researcher who fails to abide by regulations and guidelines relating
to radiation or biological safety may jeopardize his health and safety or the health
and safety of staff and students.
 Codes and Policies for Research Ethics

Given the importance of ethics for the conduct of research, it should come as no surprise that
many different professional associations, government agencies, and universities have
adopted specific codes, rules, and policies relating to research ethics. Many government
agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), theutions
National Science Foundation (NSF), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have
ethics rules for funded researchers. Other influential research ethics policies include
Singapore Statement on Research Integrity, the
American Chemical Society, The Chemist Professional’s Code of Conduct,
Code of Ethics (American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science)
American Psychological Association, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct,
Statements on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (American Anthropological Association),
Statement on Professional Ethics (American Association of University Professors), the
Nuremberg Code and the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki.
In Zimbabwe there are a number of institutions have rules but generally there are a number of
ethics boards e.g. Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe(MRCZ), Research council of
Zimbabwe(RCZ) various membership boards eg the Law society for lawyers, Institute of
engineers, Institute of Chartered Accountants, and others.
 Codes and Policies for research Ethics
• The following is a rough and general summary of some ethical principals that various codes
address*:
• Honesty
• Strive for honesty in all scientific communications. Honestly report data, results, methods and
procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data. Do not
deceive colleagues, research sponsors, or the public.
• Objectivity
• Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review,
personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research where
objectivity is expected or required. Avoid or minimize bias or self-deception. Disclose personal
or financial interests that may affect research.
• Integrity
• Keep your promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and
action.
• Carefulness
• Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own work and the
work of your peers. Keep good records of research activities, such as data collection, research
design, and correspondence with agencies or journals.
 Codes and Policies for research Ethics
• Openness
• Share data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Be open to criticism and new
ideas.
• Respect for Intellectual Property
• Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do not
use unpublished data, methods, or results without permission. Give proper
acknowledgement or credit for all contributions to research. Never
plagiarize.
• Confidentiality
• Protect confidential communications, such as papers or grants submitted for
publication, personnel records, trade or military secrets, and patient records.
• Responsible Publication
• Publish in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance just
your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication.
 Codes and Policies for research Ethics
• Responsible Mentoring
• Help to educate, mentor, and advise students. Promote their welfare and allow
them to make their own decisions.
• Respect for colleagues
• Respect your colleagues and treat them fairly.
• Social Responsibility
• Strive to promote social good and prevent or mitigate social harms through
research, public education, and advocacy.
• Non-Discrimination
• Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race,
ethnicity, or other factors not related to scientific competence and integrity.
• Competence
• Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through
lifelong education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a
whole.
 Codes and Policies for research Ethics
• Legality
• Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies.
• Animal Care
• Show proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do
not conduct unnecessary or poorly designed animal experiments.
• Human Subjects Protection
• When conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks
and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy; take
special precautions with vulnerable populations; and strive to distribute
the benefits and burdens of research fairly. Adapted from Shamoo A and
Resnik D. 2015. Responsible Conduct of Research, 3rd ed. (New York:
Oxford University Press).
 Ethical Decision Making in Research
Although codes, policies, and principals are very
important and useful, like any set of rules, they do
not cover every situation, they often conflict, and
they require considerable interpretation. It is
therefore important for researchers to learn how to
interpret, assess, and apply various research rules
and how to make decisions and to act ethically in
various situations. The vast majority of decisions
involve the straightforward application of ethical
rules. For example, consider the following case,
 Case1

• The research protocol for a study of a drug on hypertension requires the administration of
the drug at different doses to 50 laboratory mice, with chemical and behavioral tests to
determine toxic effects. Tom has almost finished the experiment for Dr. Q. He has only 5
mice left to test. However, he really wants to finish his work in time to go to Florida on
spring break with his friends, who are leaving tonight. He has injected the drug in all 50
mice but has not completed all of the tests. He therefore decides to extrapolate from the
45 completed results to produce the 5 additional results.
• Many different research ethics policies would hold that Tom has acted unethically by
fabricating data. If this study were sponsored by a federal agency, such as the NIH, his
actions would constitute a form of research misconduct, which the government defines
as "fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism" (or FFP) Actions that nearly all researchers
classify as unethical are viewed as misconduct. It is important to remember, however, that
misconduct occurs only when researchers intend to deceive: honest errors related to
sloppiness, poor record keeping, miscalculations, bias, self-deception, and even
negligence do not constitute misconduct. Also, reasonable disagreements about research
methods, procedures, and interpretations do not constitute research misconduct.
 Case 2:

• Dr. T has just discovered a mathematical error in his paper that has been
accepted for publication in a journal. The error does not affect the overall
results of his research, but it is potentially misleading. The journal has just
gone to press, so it is too late to catch the error before it appears in print.
In order to avoid embarrassment, Dr. T decides to ignore the error.
• Dr. T's error is not misconduct nor is his decision to take no action to
correct the error. Most researchers, as well as many different policies and
codes would say that Dr. T should tell the journal (and any coauthors)
about the error and consider publishing a correction or errata. Failing to
publish a correction would be unethical because it would violate norms
relating to honesty and objectivity in research.
• There are many other activities that the government does not define as
"misconduct" but which are still regarded by most researchers as unethical
• . These are sometimes referred to as "
other deviations" from acceptable research
practices and include:
• Publishing the same paper in two different journals
without telling the editors
• Submitting the same paper to different journals
without telling the editors
• Not informing a collaborator of your intent to file a
patent in order to make sure that you are the sole
inventor
 Possible problems
• Including a colleague as an author on a paper in return for a favor even though
the colleague did not make a serious contribution to the paper
• Discussing with your colleagues confidential data from a paper that you are
reviewing for a journal
• Using data, ideas, or methods you learn about while reviewing a grant or a papers
without permission
• Trimming outliers from a data set without discussing your reasons in paper
• Using an inappropriate statistical technique in order to enhance the significance of
your research
• Bypassing the peer review process and announcing your results through a press
conference without giving peers adequate information to review your work
• Conducting a review of the literature that fails to acknowledge the contributions
of other people in the field or relevant prior work
• Stretching the truth on a grant application in order to convince reviewers that
your project will make a significant contribution to the field
 Possible problems
• Stretching the truth on a job application or curriculum vita
• Giving the same research project to two graduate students in order to see
who can do it the fastest
• Overworking, neglecting, or exploiting graduate or post-doctoral students
• Failing to keep good research records
• Failing to maintain research data for a reasonable period of time
• Making derogatory comments and personal attacks in your review of
author's submission
• Promising a student a better grade for sexual favors
• Using a racist epithet in the laboratory
• Making significant deviations from the research protocol approved by your
institution's Animal Care and Use Committee or Institutional Review Board
for Human Subjects Research without telling the committee or the board
 Possible problems
• Not reporting an adverse event in a human research experiment
• Wasting animals in research
• Exposing students and staff to biological risks in violation of your
institution's biosafety rules
• Sabotaging someone's work
• Stealing supplies, books, or data
• Rigging an experiment so you know how it will turn out
• Making unauthorized copies of data, papers, or computer programs
• Owning over $10,000 in stock in a company that sponsors your
research and not disclosing this financial interest
• Deliberately overestimating the clinical significance of a new drug in
order to obtain economic benefits
 Observation
These actions would be regarded as unethical by most scientists and some
might even be illegal in some cases. Most of these would also violate
different professional ethics codes or institutional policies. However, they do
not fall into the narrow category of actions that the government classifies as
research misconduct. Indeed, there has been considerable debate about the
definition of "research misconduct" and many researchers and policy makers
are not satisfied with the government's narrow definition that focuses on
FFP. However, given the huge list of potential offenses that might fall into the
category "other serious deviations," and the practical problems with defining
and policing these other deviations, it is understandable why government
officials have chosen to limit their focus. Finally, situations frequently arise in
research in which different people disagree about the proper course of
action and there is no broad consensus about what should be done. In these
situations, there may be good arguments on both sides of the issue and
different ethical principles may conflict.
 Case 3:
• Dr. Wexford is the principal investigator of a large, epidemiological study on the health of
10,000 agricultural workers. She has an impressive dataset that includes information on
demographics, environmental exposures, diet, genetics, and various disease outcomes such as
cancer, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and ALS. She has just published a paper on the relationship
between pesticide exposure and PD in a prestigious journal. She is planning to publish many
other papers from her dataset. She receives a request from another research team that wants
access to her complete dataset. They are interested in examining the relationship between
pesticide exposures and skin cancer. Dr. Wexford was planning to conduct a study on this topic.

• Dr. Wexford faces a difficult choice. On the one hand, the ethical norm of openness obliges her
to share data with the other research team. Her funding agency may also have rules that
obligate her to share data. On the other hand, if she shares data with the other team, they
may publish results that she was planning to publish, thus depriving her (and her team) of
recognition and priority. It seems that there are good arguments on both sides of this issue
and Dr. Wexford needs to take some time to think about what she should do. One possible
option is to share data, provided that the investigators sign a data use agreement. The
agreement could define allowable uses of the data, publication plans, authorship, etc. Another
option would be to offer to collaborate with the researchers.
 Possible solutions
• The following are some step that researchers, such as Dr. Wexford, can
take to deal with ethical dilemmas in research:
• What is the problem or issue?
• It is always important to get a clear statement of the problem. In this
case, the issue is whether to share information with the other research
team.
• What is the relevant information?
• Many bad decisions are made as a result of poor information. To know
what to do, Dr. Wexford needs to have more information concerning
such matters as university or funding agency or journal policies that may
apply to this situation, the team's intellectual property interests, the
possibility of negotiating some kind of agreement with the other team,
whether the other team also has some information it is willing to share,
the impact of the potential publications, etc.
 Possible solutions
• What are the different options?
• People may fail to see different options due to a limited
imagination, bias, ignorance, or fear. In this case, there may be
other choices besides 'share' or 'don't share,' such as 'negotiate
an agreement' or 'offer to collaborate with the researchers.'
• How do ethical codes or policies as well as legal rules apply to
these different options?
• The university or funding agency may have policies on data
management that apply to this case. Broader ethical rules, such
as openness and respect for credit and intellectual property,
may also apply to this case. Laws relating to intellectual
property may be relevant.
 Possible solutions
• Are there any people who can offer ethical advice?
• It may be useful to seek advice from a colleague, a senior researcher, your
department chair, an ethics or compliance officer, or anyone else you can
trust. In the case, Dr. Wexford might want to talk to her supervisor and
research team before making a decision.
• After considering these questions, a person facing an ethical dilemma may
decide to ask more questions, gather more information, explore different
options, or consider other ethical rules. However, at some point he or she
will have to make a decision and then take action. Ideally, a person who
makes a decision in an ethical dilemma should be able to justify his or her
decision to himself or herself, as well as colleagues, administrators, and
other people who might be affected by the decision. He or she should be
able to articulatereasons for his or her conduct and should consider the
following questions in order to explain how he or she arrived at his or her
decision: .
 Possible solutions
• Which choice will probably have the best overall consequences for science
and society?
• Which choice could stand up to further publicity and scrutiny?
• Which choice could you not live with?
• Think of the wisest person you know. What would he or she do in this
situation?
• Which choice would be the most just, fair, or responsible?
• After considering all of these questions, one still might find it difficult to
decide what to do. If this is the case, then it may be appropriate to consider
others ways of making the decision, such as going with a gut feeling or
intuition, seeking guidance through prayer or meditation, or even flipping a
coin. Endorsing these methods in this context need not imply that ethical
decisions are irrational, however. The main point is that human reasoning
plays a pivotal role in ethical decision-making but there are limits to its ability
to solve all ethical dilemmas in a finite amount of time.
 Promoting Ethical Conduct in Science

• Most academic institutions in the US require

undergraduate, graduate, or postgraduate
students to have some education in the
responsible conduct of research (RCR). The
NIH and NSF have both mandated training in
research ethics for students and trainees.
Many academic institutions outside of the US
have also developed
educational curricula in research ethics
 Note
• Those of you who are taking or have taken courses in research ethics
may be wondering why you are required to have education in research
ethics. You may believe that you are highly ethical and know the
difference between right and wrong. You would never fabricate or falsify
data or plagiarize. Indeed, you also may believe that most of your
colleagues are highly ethical and that there is no ethics problem in
research..
• If you feel this way, relax. No one is accusing you of acting unethically.
Indeed, the evidence produced so far shows that misconduct is a very
rare occurrence in research, although there is considerable variation
among various estimates. The rate of misconduct has been estimated to
be as low as 0.01% of researchers per year (based on confirmed cases of
misconduct in federally funded research) to as high as 1% of researchers
per year (based on self-reports of misconduct on anonymous surveys)
 Note
• Clearly, it would be useful to have more data on this topic, but so far there is
no evidence that science has become ethically corrupt, despite some highly
publicized scandals. Even if misconduct is only a rare occurrence, it can still
have a tremendous impact on science and society because it can compromise
the integrity of research, erode the public’s trust in science, and waste time
and resources. Will education in research ethics help reduce the rate of
misconduct in science? It is too early to tell. The answer to this question
depends, in part, on how one understands the causes of misconduct. There
are two main theories about why researchers commit misconduct. According
to the "bad apple" theory, most scientists are highly ethical. Only researchers
who are morally corrupt, economically desperate, or psychologically disturbed
commit misconduct. Moreover, only a fool would commit misconduct because
science's peer review system and self-correcting mechanisms will eventually
catch those who try to cheat the system. In any case, a course in research
ethics will have little impact on "bad apples," one might argue.
 Notes
• According to the "stressful" or "imperfect"
environment theory, misconduct occurs
because various institutional pressures,
incentives, and constraints encourage people
to commit misconduct, such as pressures to
publish or obtain grants or contracts, career
ambitions, the pursuit of profit or fame, poor
supervision of students and trainees, and poor
oversight of researchers
 Notes
• Moreover, defenders of the stressful environment theory point out that science's
peer review system is far from perfect and that it is relatively easy to cheat the
system. Erroneous or fraudulent research often enters the public record without
being detected for years. Misconduct probably results from environmental and
individual causes, i.e. when people who are morally weak, ignorant, or insensitive
are placed in stressful or imperfect environments. In any case, a course in research
ethics can be useful in helping to prevent deviations from norms even if it does not
prevent misconduct. Education in research ethics is can help people get a better
understanding of ethical standards, policies, and issues and improve ethical
judgment and decision making. Many of the deviations that occur in research may
occur because researchers simply do not know or have never thought seriously
about some of the ethical norms of research. For example, some unethical
authorship practices probably reflect traditions and practices that have not been
questioned seriously until recently. If the director of a lab is named as an author on
every paper that comes from his lab, even if he does not make a significant
contribution, what could be wrong with that?
 Notes
• That's just the way it's done, one might argue. Another example where
there may be some ignorance or mistaken traditions is conflicts of
interest in research. A researcher may think that a "normal" or
"traditional" financial relationship, such as accepting stock or a consulting
fee from a drug company that sponsors her research, raises no serious
ethical issues. Or perhaps a university administrator sees no ethical
problem in taking a large gift with strings attached from a pharmaceutical
company. Maybe a physician thinks that it is perfectly appropriate to
receive a $300 finder’s fee for referring patients into a clinical trial.
• If "deviations" from ethical conduct occur in research as a result of
ignorance or a failure to reflect critically on problematic traditions, then a
course in research ethics may help reduce the rate of serious deviations
by improving the researcher's understanding of ethics and by sensitizing
him or her to the issues.
 Notes
• Finally, education in research ethics should be able to
help researchers grapple with the ethical dilemmas
they are likely to encounter by introducing them to
important concepts, tools, principles, and methods
that can be useful in resolving these dilemmas.
Scientists must deal with a number of different
controversial topics, such as human embryonic stem
cell research, cloning, genetic engineering, and
research involving animal or human subjects, which
require ethical reflection and deliberation.