PHIL 7570
CASE STUDIES IN RESEARCH ETHICS
Spring Schedule
Faculty positions, promotions and funding for research are often based on the researcher's publication record; Publications are the "coin of the realm." Thus it is no surprise to find that authorship issues and related editorial policies are a central concern. This session will discuss plagiarism, criteria of authorship credit and responsibility (especially in collaborative research), the peer review process, and attendant professional and ethical standards that address these concerns.
Assigned Readings:
- ORI Text: Chapters 9 and 10 (pp. 133-157) available for free download at ORI.
- Article: Getting the Credit You Deserve.(pdf) Article from the APA about issues faced by graduate students when it comes to credit for authorship. On plagiarism see also A Tale of Two Citations (pdf) (Nature, January 24, 2008).
- Authorship Case Studies (pdf)
Other Articles and Links
- Authorship Credit:
Graduate Students and the Culture of Authorship.(pdf) From Ethics& Behavior, 16(3), 217–232, 2006.
Scientists May Have Put Their Names on Papers Written by Drug Companies. (pdf) The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 2008.
Who Gets Credit? (pdf) A survey of who gets credit in history journals. Inside Higher Education, July 20, 2007.
Reflections on Determining Authorship Credit and Authorship Order on Faculty-Student Collaborations. By Mark A. Fine and Lawrence A. Kurdek. In American Psychologist, November 1993, Vol. 48, No. 11, 1141-1147. A thoughtful discussion of issues surrounding authorship credit, especially with regard to graduate student contribution. Contains several case studies taken from psychology and psychiatric research contexts.
Mentor vs. Protégé: A professor published the student's words as his own. What's wrong with that? The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 17, 2004.
Oxygen, A play by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann. It is a highly enjoyable read that explores the ethical issues surrounding scientific discovery and credit. A copy can be found at the Marriott Library: PS 3554 J47 O99 2001.
- Authorship Responsibility:
A Silent Scientist Under Fire. By LIila Guterman. The whole world knows the disgraced scientist Woo Suk Hwang. But what about his American collaborator, Gerald P. Schatten, of Pitt? The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 3, 2003. See also the follow-up article by Guterman, Taint of Misbehavior (pdf). The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 24, 2006.
'55 'Origin of Life' Paper is Retracted. (pdf) The New York Times, October 25, 2007. In January 1955, Homer Jacobson, a chemistry professor at Brooklyn College, published a paper called “Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life” in American Scientist. Nobody paid much attention to the paper at the time. But today it is winning Dr. Jacobson acclaim that he does not want — from creationists who cite it as proof that life could not have emerged on earth without divine intervention. So after 52 years, he has retracted it. Is this responsible authorship?
Dishonesty in Science. Richard Lewontin review of two books on research integrity complains about a pervasive "culture of dishonesty" when it comes to attributing senior authorship on papers. The New York Review of Books 51(18), November 18, 2004.
- Plagiarism:
Scan Uncovers Thousands of Copycat Scientific Articles (Scientific American, January 30, 2008) and A Tale of Two Citations (Nature, January 24, 2008). Articles report on the amount of plagiarism that has, or may have been published in respectable journals. See also: Journals May Soon Use Anti-Plagiarism Software on Their Authors. (pdf) The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 2008.
Self Plagiarism or Fair Use? (pdf). Article discusses issues involved in so-called "self-plagiarism."
Giving Proper Credit. (pdf) Accusations of stealing and plagiarism challenge the University of Stockholm to sanction professor, but not everyone is happy. Chemical and Engineering News 85(12): 35-38; March 12, 2007.
The Plagiarism Hunter. (pdf) When one graduate student went to the library, he found copycats — lots of them. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 11, 2006.
Professor Copycat. A special report on plagiarism from the Chronicle of Higher Education, December 17, 2004. (Available via U of U computers or proxy.) See especially: Unoriginal Sin, also under the title Four Academic Plagiarists You've Never Heard Of: How Many More Are Out There? By Thomas Bartlett and Scott Smallwood.
- Peer Review:
Confidential Review – Or Not? Should peer review be confidential? Science, 319, 2008.
NIH Mulls Ways to Lure Back Veteran Peer Reviewers. (pdf). Many scientists now decline what they say has become a dreary job, putting the quality of U.S.-backed research at risk. The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 9, 2008.
Reviewers, Authors, and Editors: Balance of Power. In Arch Ophthalmol 1999 117: 524-526. Mostly a review of the peer-review process, but also includes a section on authorship credit.
- General Interest:
The Trouble with Medical Journals. (pdf) Reflections on the purposes of academic journals and the changing environment that determines what does or doesn't get published. J R Soc Med 2006;99:115–119.
Publication Ethics: Rights and Wrongs. By Stephen K. Ritter. Science & Technology, Vol. 79 (46), November 12, 2002, pp. 24-31. This article reviews a number of concerns for authorship, as well as editorial policy in general.
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, Uniform Requirements for Manuscript Submissions, updated February 2006. See also: