20150530 edanz waseda
TRANSCRIPT
Jeffrey Robens, PhD
Trevor Lane, PhD
Session 1 – Being an ethical researcher and author
Waseda University
30 May 2015
Seminar series
May 30 Ethics
June 29 Writing effective grants
September Increasing your publication success
October Increasing your publication success
November Guidance for early career researchers
December Presenting social science research
January Presenting science/technology research
Conflicts of interest
Section 1
Conflicts of interest
What is it?
Conflicts of interest (COI)
Financial or personal relationships that may bias your research
Conflicts of interest
Being objective is essential in scientific research
Why is this wrong?
• Your readers trust that you analyzed your results in an objective and fair manner
• Being biased in your analysis deceives your readers and violates their trust
Conflicts of interest Personal COIs
You are researching a new drug, and your spouse works for the drug company
Biased for personal reasons
You are writing a review on animal research, and you are an active member of PETA*
*People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Conflicts of interest Financial COIs
You are researching a new material, and…
• an author works for the company making the material
• the company funded your study
• an author owns stock in the company
Biased for financial reasons
Conflicts of interest
Company is funding your research
Avoiding conflicts of interest
What should you do?
• State the company’s role in the study design • State the company’s role in data analysis • State the company’s role in manuscript writing • Should be disclosed in the cover letter
Some journals will ask you to include a statement such as: “I had full access to all of the data in this study and I take complete responsibility
for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis”*
*http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/ author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html
Conflicts of interest
An author works at the company
Avoiding conflicts of interest
What should you do?
• Ensure study design not unfairly manipulated
• Ensure author is blinded during data analysis
• Restrict role of the author in manuscript writing
• Should be addressed BEFORE study begins!
Conflicts of interest Disclosing COIs
Should be disclosed to university ethics committee before obtaining approval
Should be disclosed to journal editors while submitting manuscript
Journal editors may or may not publish these COIs along with your article
Conflicts of interest Example COI form
Conflicts of interest
Does disclosing COIs lead to rejection?
No! It makes the journal editor aware of the COIs and confident that you were not biased in your study
Not declaring a COI during submission may lead to the rejection or retraction of your paper
Please see accompanying workbook
Activity 1: Conflicts of interest
1. An author on your manuscript owns stock in company that competes with the one that funded your study. You should you do?
A. Nothing. As this author is not directly related to the company that funded the study, there is no conflict of interest.
B. Remove the author from the manuscript to remove a perceived conflict of interest. He can be thanked in the acknowledgement section instead.
C. State a potential conflict of interest in the cover letter to the journal editor and the measures that were taken to ensure that was no bias in the study.
D. Contact that company that funded the study and state that one of the authors has a potential conflict of interest as well as the measures that will be taken to ensure there will be no bias.
Activity 1: Conflicts of interest
1. An author on your manuscript owns stock in company that competes with the one that funded your study. You should you do?
A. Nothing. As this author is not directly related to the company that funded the study, there is no conflict of interest.
B. Remove the author from the manuscript to remove a perceived conflict of interest. He can be thanked in the acknowledgement section instead.
C. State a potential conflict of interest in the cover letter to the journal editor and the measures that were taken to ensure that was no bias in the study.
D. Contact that company that funded the study and state that one of the authors has a potential conflict of interest as well as the measures that will be taken to ensure there will be no bias.
Activity 1: Conflicts of interest
This is an indirect financial conflict of interest
1. An author on your manuscript owns stock in company that competes with the one that funded your study. You should you do?
A. Nothing. As this author is not directly related to the company that funded the study, there is no conflict of interest.
B. Remove the author from the manuscript to remove a perceived conflict of interest. He can be thanked in the acknowledgement section instead.
C. State a potential conflict of interest in the cover letter to the journal editor and the measures that were taken to ensure that was no bias in the study.
D. Contact that company that funded the study and state that one of the authors has a potential conflict of interest as well as the measures that will be taken to ensure there will be no bias.
Activity 1: Conflicts of interest
This is ghost authorship (unethical)
1. An author on your manuscript owns stock in company that competes with the one that funded your study. You should you do?
A. Nothing. As this author is not directly related to the company that funded the study, there is no conflict of interest.
B. Remove the author from the manuscript to remove a perceived conflict of interest. He can be thanked in the acknowledgement section instead.
C. State a potential conflict of interest in the cover letter to the journal editor and the measures that were taken to ensure that was no bias in the study.
D. Contact that company that funded the study and state that one of the authors has a potential conflict of interest as well as the measures that will be taken to ensure there will be no bias.
Activity 1: Conflicts of interest
Should disclose to the journal editor
1. An author on your manuscript owns stock in company that competes with the one that funded your study. You should you do?
A. Nothing. As this author is not directly related to the company that funded the study, there is no conflict of interest.
B. Remove the author from the manuscript to remove a perceived conflict of interest. He can be thanked in the acknowledgement section instead.
C. State a potential conflict of interest in the cover letter to the journal editor and the measures that were taken to ensure that was no bias in the study.
D. Contact that company that funded the study and state that one of the authors has a potential conflict of interest as well as the measures that will be taken to ensure there will be no bias.
Activity 1: Conflicts of interest
Should disclose to your study sponsor
2. When submitting a manuscript to a journal, all authors declared they had no conflicts of interest. However, after publication, you found out that one of the authors had a brother that worked for the company that made the device you tested. What should you do?
1. Clarify with violating author why they didn’t disclose COI.
2. Discuss among all co-authors and agree to contact journal.
3. Explain to journal editor about the issue and ask to update the published article (corrigendum).
Activity 1: Conflicts of interest
Multiple submission
Section 2
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission
Submitting to more than one journal at a time
What is it?
Shorten the publication process
Why would authors do this?
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission Sequential submissions
Author Editor Reviewer 1 wk
4 wks 2 wks
Total ~2 months
3 journals = over 6 months!
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission Multiple submissions
Author Editor2 Reviewer2
3 journals = ~2 months
Editor1 Reviewer1
Editor3 Reviewer3
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission Multiple submissions
Author Editor2 Reviewer2
3 journals = ~2 months
Editor1 Reviewer1
Editor3 Reviewer3
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission Why is it unethical?
Wastes time
• After accepted from one, have to withdraw submission from the others
• Wastes journal editor’s time and resources
• Damages your reputation with the publisher
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission Why is it unethical?
Duplicate publication
• More than one journal publishes the paper • It will be noticed in the field • One or both may be retracted • Wastes time and damages your reputation
with both the publisher and your peers
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission
You can only submit to another journal if:
You have been rejected by the first journal You have formally withdrawn the submission
When can you submit to another journal?
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission
Can you publish a Japanese paper in English?
You previously published in the Japanese
Now you want to translate and publish in English
Sometimes
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission
Can you publish a Japanese paper in English?
What do you need to do?
1. Obtain permission from the first publisher
2. Tell journal editor of English journal: – You already obtained permission to re-publish – Why necessary to publish in English
3. Cite the original publication
Note: many journal editors will not be interested in publishing non-original articles
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission Salami publishing
By André Karwath [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
Don’t slice your research to increase your
publication output!
One study
4 publications
Why unethical? Readers will not have access to all the relevant information to
critically evaluate the study
Coverage and Staffing Plan
Multiple submission Salami publishing
One study
4 publications
Same sample population Same controls Experiments concurrent Dependent results
Distinct populations Different controls Experiments sequential Independent results
One larger paper will have more impact in the field and more citations!
Please see accompanying workbook
Activity 2: Multiple submissions
1. It has been 6 months since you submitted your manuscript to the journal. You have written the journal editor, but have not received a reply after 2 weeks. It is obvious that the journal editor is not interested, so you decide to submit to a different journal instead. Is this considered multiple submission?
Yes!
You can only submit to a different journal after you formally withdraw your submission from the first journal.
Activity 2: Multiple submissions
2. You have just submitted your abstract to a conference, but now you want to also submit your manuscript to a journal. What should you do?
A. Withdraw your abstract from the conference first, and then submit to the journal.
B. First attend the conference and then submit to the journal—it is okay after the conference is over.
C. Freely submit to both—the conference is not the same as a journal, right?
D. Contact the conference to determine if there is any copyright violation if you also submit the paper to a journal.
Activity 2: Multiple submissions
2. You have just submitted your abstract to a conference, but now you want to also submit your manuscript to a journal. What should you do?
A. Withdraw your abstract from the conference first, and then submit to the journal.
B. First attend the conference and then submit to the journal—it is okay after the conference is over.
C. Freely submit to both—the conference is not the same as a journal, right?
D. Contact the conference to determine if there is any copyright violation if you also submit the paper to a journal.
Activity 2: Multiple submissions
• For many fields, this is acceptable • It may not be for others; e.g., computer
science, engineering, etc.
2. You have just submitted your abstract to a conference, but now you want to also submit your manuscript to a journal. What should you do?
A. Withdraw your abstract from the conference first, and then submit to the journal.
B. First attend the conference and then submit to the journal—it is okay after the conference is over.
C. Freely submit to both—the conference is not the same as a journal, right?
D. Contact the conference to determine if there is any copyright violation if you also submit the paper to a journal.
Activity 2: Multiple submissions
General guide: if the conference publishes a conference proceedings, you usually cannot
publish again in a journal
2. You have just submitted your abstract to a conference, but now you want to also submit your manuscript to a journal. What should you do?
Bonus: If you present at a conference and then publish in a journal, do you need to tell the journal editor upon submission?
Activity 2: Multiple submissions
Sometimes!
• Check the author guidelines carefully
• If necessary, state in your cover letter
Break
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Transparent reporting
Section 3
Transparent reporting Transparent reporting
Transparency: It needs to be very clear how your study was conducted
UK Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology
Transparent reporting Participant transparency
How you managed your participants
• How participants were enrolled
• Inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Randomization of participants
Transparent reporting Data transparency
How you managed your data
• Unclear data (blue vs. blue-ish) • Uninterpretable data (site contamination) • Missing data
– Why missing? E.g., outliers or lost to evaluation? – Imputed methods (e.g., last observation carried
forward, multiple imputation methods, sensitivity analyses)
Transparent reporting Data transparency
How you analyzed your data (levels of measurement)
• Continuous (e.g., nitrogen levels in soil)
• Nominal categories (unranked: e.g., normal vs. abnormal nitrogen levels)
• Ordinal categories (ranked; e.g., low, normal, and high nitrogen levels)
Transparent reporting Data transparency
How you categorized continuous data
• Continuous: height of your participants in cm
• Subjective ranking: short <150 cm, normal 151–175 cm, tall >176 cm
• Logical ranking: short <1 SD of the mean, normal ±1 SD of the mean, tall >1 SD of the mean
Transparent reporting
Need to justify why and how continuous data was categorized
Freq
ue
ncy
Small Medium Large
Categorizing continuous data
Nitrogen levels (g m–2)
No significant difference
Transparent reporting
Need to justify why and how continuous data was categorized
Freq
ue
ncy
Small Medium Large
Categorizing continuous data
Nitrogen levels (g m–2)
Significant difference! ?
Transparent reporting
Need to justify why and how continuous data was categorized
Freq
ue
ncy
Small
Mean
Large
SD SD
Medium
Categorizing continuous data
Nitrogen levels (g m–2)
Transparent reporting
Other ways to justify categorization
Categorizing continuous data
Previous studies/international guidelines
• Ensure categorization is up-to-date
• Widely accepted in the field
• Appropriate for your data
Transparent reporting
Treatment of participants
Informed consent
Participants need to be informed of the:
• Study objectives • Potential benefits or risks involved • Confidentiality
This is usually written informed consent
Templates: http://www.who.int/rpc/research_ethics/informed_consent/en/
Transparent reporting Informed consent form
Transparent reporting Sharing negative results
Why?
Aren’t negative results bad results?
No!
Transparent reporting Sharing negative results
Bad results are obtained by:
• Inappropriate study design
• Out-of-date methodologies
• Invalidated techniques
Good results can be both positive and negative, and are always useful
Transparent reporting Sharing negative results
Negative results are useful?
Yes!
• Allows complete evaluation of your study
• Prevents others from repeating those experiments
• Allows others to modify those experiments
• Prevents funding agencies from wasting money
Data repositories
Please see accompanying workbook
Activity 3: Transparent reporting
1. When categorizing your continuous data, you decided to use the most widely used classification system published in 2008. However, a more recent one was published in your target journal last month (2015). When you reanalyzed your data under this new system, your findings were no longer significant. What should you do?
A. Because the 2015 classification system has not been validated by other research groups yet, it is acceptable to not use it.
B. You should not use the 2015 classification system as it is not validated, but you should also change target journals as well to avoid any potential problems with the journal editor.
C. You should wait to analyze/publish your findings until your field has validated the 2015 classification system.
D. It is acceptable to use the 2008 classification system. However, you should also mention in your Discussion that when you tried the 2015 classification system, your analysis did not yield significant results.
Activity 3: Transparent reporting
1. When categorizing your continuous data, you decided to use the most widely used classification system published in 2008. However, a more recent one was published in your target journal last month (2015). When you reanalyzed your data under this new system, your findings were no longer significant. What should you do?
A. Because the 2015 classification system has not been validated by other research groups yet, it is acceptable to not use it.
B. You should not use the 2015 classification system as it is not validated, but you should also change target journals as well to avoid any potential problems with the journal editor.
C. You should wait to analyze/publish your findings until your field has validated the 2015 classification system.
D. It is acceptable to use the 2008 classification system. However, you should also mention in your Discussion that when you tried the 2015 classification system, your analysis did not yield significant results.
Activity 3: Transparent reporting
• This is an opportunity for you to add value to the field
• You will stimulate discussion, and your paper will likely be more widely read
1. When categorizing your continuous data, you decided to use the most widely used classification system published in 2008. However, a more recent one was published in your target journal last month (2015). When you reanalyzed your data under this new system, your findings were no longer significant. What should you do?
A. Because the 2015 classification system has not been validated by other research groups yet, it is acceptable to not use it.
B. You should not use the 2015 classification system as it is not validated, but you should also change target journals as well to avoid any potential problems with the journal editor.
C. You should wait to analyze/publish your findings until your field has validated the 2015 classification system.
D. It is acceptable to use the 2008 classification system. However, you should also mention in your Discussion that when you tried the 2015 classification system, your analysis did not yield significant results.
Activity 3: Transparent reporting
Journal editors like to publish papers that build on each other
1. When categorizing your continuous data, you decided to use the most widely used classification system published in 2008. However, a more recent one was published in your target journal last month (2015). When you reanalyzed your data under this new system, your findings were no longer significant. What should you do?
A. Because the 2015 classification system has not been validated by other research groups yet, it is acceptable to not use it.
B. You should not use the 2015 classification system as it is not validated, but you should also change target journals as well to avoid any potential problems with the journal editor.
C. You should wait to analyze/publish your findings until your field has validated the 2015 classification system.
D. It is acceptable to use the 2008 classification system. However, you should also mention in your Discussion that when you tried the 2015 classification system, your analysis did not yield significant results.
Activity 3: Transparent reporting
Never wait to publish your data!
1. When categorizing your continuous data, you decided to use the most widely used classification system published in 2008. However, a more recent one was published in your target journal last month (2015). When you reanalyzed your data under this new system, your findings were no longer significant. What should you do?
A. Because the 2015 classification system has not been validated by other research groups yet, it is acceptable to not use it.
B. You should not use the 2015 classification system as it is not validated, but you should also change target journals as well to avoid any potential problems with the journal editor.
C. You should wait to analyze/publish your findings until your field has validated the 2015 classification system.
D. It is acceptable to use the 2008 classification system. However, you should also mention in your Discussion that when you tried the 2015 classification system, your analysis did not yield significant results.
Activity 3: Transparent reporting
• Always present/discuss negative results • Explain in your cover letter as well
2. When analysing your results, you determine 2 samples out of 50 are outliers (> 3 standard deviations from the mean). Including these samples interferes with what should be a clear trend line in your graph. Can you remove these samples from the analysis?
Yes!
But you still need to present those results
Explain your exclusion criteria in your Methods
Activity 3: Transparent reporting
Plagiarism
Section 4
Customer Service Plagiarism
Auer & Griffiths. Front Psych. 2015; 6: 1–7.
While writing…
What’s a good way to describe
self-efficacy?
Customer Service Plagiarism
Auer & Griffiths. Front Psych. 2015; 6: 1–7.
Is this acceptable?
Customer Service Plagiarism
Makes readers think others’ words or ideas are your own
Copying published text
Stating ideas of someone else without citing the source
Customer Service Plagiarism
What if you were the original author?
Can you now copy and paste text you published in a new manuscript?
No!
Customer Service Plagiarism
Copying text into your manuscript that you have written and published before
Self-plagiarism
Violates copyright
Makes readers think you are presenting something new
Customer Service Plagiarism
Is plagiarism common?
Nature conducted a survey across 9 scientific publishers and found that 6–23% of submitted papers were rejected because of plagiarism!
Butler D. Nature. 2010; 466: 167.
Customer Service Plagiarism
Expressing published ideas using different words
Paraphrasing
Tips on paraphrasing:
• Write the text first in Japanese, and then later translate back into English
• Verbally explain ideas to a colleague • Cite published methods • Consider text location
– Introduction vs. Discussion
Customer Service Plagiarism Good paraphrasing
24. Li et al. PLoS ONE. 2013; 8: e68372.
“The magnitude of the change in carbon storage depends on how physical, chemical, or biological processes are altered over time under different land uses.”
The size of the carbon storage change depends on how physical, chemical, or biological processes are changed over time under different land uses.24
Customer Service Plagiarism Good paraphrasing
24. Li et al. PLoS ONE. 2013; 8: e68372.
“The magnitude of the change in carbon storage depends on how physical, chemical, or biological processes are altered over time under different land uses.”
The size of the carbon storage change depends on how physical, chemical, or biological processes are changed over time under different land uses.24
Temporal changes in biological, chemical, or physical processes under different land uses can influence the size of the carbon storage change.24
Customer Service Plagiarism
Which is more appropriate for an Introduction and for a Discussion?
Paraphrasing
“Drug A significantly reduced tumor volume by 39.7% after a 6-month treatment in lung cancer patients.”
1. Drug A has been shown to significantly reduce tumor size in patients with lung cancer.24
2. Previously, Drug A was shown to reduce lung cancer tumors by almost 40% after 6 months.24
Introduction
Discussion
Customer Service Plagiarism
What if you want to directly quote someone?
Direct quotes
Humanities • Often acceptable • Include text in quotation marks • Use bibliographic footnote and page number
Sciences • Usually not acceptable
Customer Service Plagiarism Proper citations
You should usually cite primary research articles
• Cite review articles only in the Introduction regarding general topics (for further reading)
• Cite primary articles regarding specific information/results
If you read about an interesting study in a review article:
• Do not cite that review article • Read the original study (additional information?) • Read the entire paper, not just the abstract!
Please see accompanying workbook
Activity 4: Plagiarism
1. Please choose which sentence below is the best paraphrase for this sentence:
“After application of the oil-based cream, we observed a 78% reduction in rashes caused by plants, but no reduction in those caused by animals.”
Activity 4: Plagiarism
A B C
1. Please choose which sentence below is the best paraphrase for this sentence:
“After application of the oil-based cream, we observed a 78% reduction in rashes caused by plants, but no reduction in those caused by animals.”
A. Oil-based creams have been found to be effective in reducing rashes caused by plants, but not by animals (Robens et al., 2013).
Useful paraphrase for Introduction
Activity 4: Plagiarism
B. Although Robens et al (2013) found a 78% decrease in plant-induced rashes, they were unable to detect any decrease in rashes caused by animals.
1. Please choose which sentence below is the best paraphrase for this sentence:
“After application of the oil-based cream, we observed a 78% reduction in rashes caused by plants, but no reduction in those caused by animals.”
Useful paraphrase for Discussion
Activity 4: Plagiarism
C. Rashes caused by plants are easier to treat than rashes caused by animals (Robens et al., 2013).
Not accurate
1. Please choose which sentence below is the best paraphrase for this sentence:
“After application of the oil-based cream, we observed a 78% reduction in rashes caused by plants, but no reduction in those caused by animals.”
Activity 4: Plagiarism
Students who preferred team sports rather than video games had higher entrance exam scores.
2. You would like to use the following text in your manuscript. Properly paraphrase this sentence to avoid plagiarism.
“We found that students who preferred team sports, such as football and basketball, scored 6.9% higher on entrance exams than students who preferred video games.”
Useful paraphrase for Introduction
Activity 4: Plagiarism
Thank you!
Any questions?
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Jeffrey Robens: [email protected] Trevor Lane: [email protected]