Authorship & Peer Review and

Research Misconduct (Plagiarism, Falsification & Fabrication)

650:270 Principles of Scholarly Integrity

The University of Iowa

Authorship & Misconduct Group• Apollina Goel

– Free Radical & Radiation Biology

• Barry Kasson– Pharmacology

• Ann Marie McCarthy– Nursing

• Eric Nuxoll– Chemical & Biochemical Engineering

• Thomas Schmidt– Molecular Physiology & Biophysics

Writing as a Graduate Student

• Changing expectations from undergraduate to graduate education

• Writing for class vs writing for publication

• Why is it important to publish?– Develop and expand knowledge – Share information with community– Responsibility of scholars– Develop your career

Authors

Authors are:• Responsible for content

– Accountability

Changes in publishing• Pressure to publish• Increase in multiple authors,

multiple disciplines

Definitions•Author: one that originates or creates •Authorship: the source of a piece of writing, music, or art

5

• Who should be an author on a paper?• Authorship credit should be based on

– 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;

– 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and

– 3) final approval of the version to be published.

• Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.

Council of Science Editors, 2009

Authorship

The University of Iowa

• Chapter 27.6 Ethics in Research includes:

• b) Only those authors who have had a genuine role in the research should be included in authorship of papers, and all named authors must accept responsibility for the quality of the work reported;

Operations Manual

Authorship

• “If you’re willing to take the credit, you have to take the responsibility” (Macrina, 2005)

• Two major issues– An author has to have made a significant

contribution• Who/what does this include?• May vary by discipline

– All authors take responsibility for the content• With increasing complexity, are there aspects

that an author may not feel responsible for?

Decision to Publish

• Which journal should you submit to?– Who is your audience? What is the impact?– Confer with mentor

• Journals provide guidelines for preparing manuscript– Need to review these before writing your paper as

they vary by journal

Journal Instructions to Authors

Guidelines typically include:– Information on manuscript preparation

• Page length/word limit for total manuscript• Format and length of abstract• Format and number of tables/figures• Reference format• Number of references

– Assignment of copyright to the publisher– Description of manuscript review/peer review

process– No prior publication of this material– Funding/sponsorship of research

Journal Instructions to Authors

Guidelines may include:– Statement of authors contribution– Sharing research materials– Conflicts of Interest– Guidelines on citing unpublished material– Page fees– Suggested reviewers/nonreviewers– Supplemental information

Types of Authors

• Order of Authorship– The order of authorship should be a joint

decision of the co-authors. Authors should be prepared to explain the order

– May vary by discipline

• First author vs last author• Senior author

– Overall responsibility

• Corresponding author• Acknowledgements

– Should include contributors who do not meet criteria for authorship

Questionable Authors• Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general

supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship (ICMJE Guidelines)

• Guest authorship: The “author” is included even though they make no contributions but are included because the person is well known and may increase the chance of publication and/or prestige

• Honorary or gift authorship: Included as an author based on a minimum association with a study.

• Ghost authorship: An individual who may actually contribute to the research and/or development of the paper but is not included as an author or in the Acknowledgments.

Deciding on Authorship

• Early in the process discuss– Who should be an author on this manuscript?– What contribution will each author make?– Who is the first/senior author?– What should the order of authorship be?

• Revisit this process during and just before submission– Changes may be made based on what actually

occurred during the writing process

• Talk with your faculty mentor/advisor

Peer Review• What is peer

review?• Critical to science• For journals, it’s the

evaluation of manuscripts by experts in the same field in order to maintain the quality of scholarship

Why do we do peer review?•To help the Editor make a decision on acceptability•To help the authors effectively communicate their work

Manuscripts “Journey”

1. Submit to the Editor2. Editor reviews, then3. Sent to ~3 reviewers

• Guidelines provided

4. Reviews are returned to Editor5. Editor makes decision6. Reviews and decision are sent to the

Corresponding Author– Rejected, decide on an alternate Journal– Revisions, respond--> back to the Editor– Accept, Publication!

Peer Review• Significant professional responsibility

– Must recuse self if not qualified– Must report conflicts of interest– Must provide review by a specific date

• Must be impartial– Must not be mean! (i.e. constructive criticism)

• Maintaining confidentiality is critical• Authors response

– Respond to all comments– Be nice-it’s not a rebuttal!– Typically must respond within a certain time period– Consult with co-authors

Research Misconduct

• Office of Research Integrity, US Dept of Health & Human Services http://www.ori.dhhs.gov/misconduct/definition_misconduct.shtml

• Research misconduct means fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.

Definitions• (a) Fabrication is making up data or results and recording

or reporting them.

• (b) Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.

• (c) Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.

• (d) Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion.

• Intentional vs unintentional– But you’re responsible for both

University of IowaOperations Manual

• Chapter 27.6 ETHICS IN RESEARCH.

• a. Prevention of research fraud. Academic research fraud entails more than mere error; it generally involves falsification or fabrication of data, plagiarism, or grossly negligent data collection or analysis.

Have you ever participated in any type of plagiarism or academic misconduct? (e.g. copying homework, cut and paste, cheating

on an exam) text...

1 2

50%50%

1. YES

2. NO

Research Misconduct

• Why is research misconduct not acceptable?– May infuse false information into a discipline– May harm individuals relying on that information– May hurt the individual scholars development and

credibility– May result in breaking the public’s trust in

research

Examples of Plagiarism

• Sources not cited– “The Ghost Writer”

• Turns in another’s work as own

– “The Potluck Paper”• Tries to disguise by

copying from several sources

– “The Self-Stealer”• “borrows” from own

work (self plagiarism)

• Sources cited– “The Misinformer”

• Provides inaccurate information regarding source

– “The Too-Perfect Paraphrase”

• Cites sources, but does not use quotations for word-for-word sections

plagiarism.org

Why does intentional plagiarism occur?

• Pressure to produce/publish

• Other reasons??

Excuses Offered for Plagiarism

• “In the place where I trained, this is done all the time”

• “Their words are better—I could never write as well.”

• “I wanted my proposal to be the best that it could be.”

• “I didn’t know that we weren’t allowed to do this.”

• “I only copied a few lines.”

Factors Contributing to Plagiarism

• Sometimes naive writing skills• Not knowing how to paraphrase

– Not knowing how to synthesize information– Not knowing how to reference appropriately

• Different cultural expectations• Ease of cutting and pasting from a variety

of sources

Plagiarism Resources

Resources that may help you– University Librarians – The University Writing Center

Rm 110 English Philosophy Building, 335-0188– Websites such as

http://www.plagiarism.org/http://plagiarismtest.org/student.html– Your advisor!

Identifying Plagiarism

Increasingly easy with software– http://www.iparadigms.com

– http://Ithenticate.com

– http://turnitin.com

• Departments have software

• Even google and google scholar

These can help you too!