Misconduct by researchers and authors

Marcovitch, Harvey

doi:10.1157/13112245

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Abstract

Most scientific research is conducted properly and reported honestly but a few authors invent or manipulate data to reach fraudulent conclusions. Other types of misconduct include deliberately providing incomplete or improperly processed data, failure to follow ethical procedures, failure to obtain informed consent, breach of patient confidentiality, improper award or denial of authorship, failure to declare competing interests, duplicate submission and plagiarism. Editors, peer reviewers and publishers may also act wrongly. Good practice guidelines are available from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (The Vancouver Group) and the Council of Science Editors, amongst others. The Committee on Publication Ethics provides flowcharts to assist editors deal with authorial misconduct. Examples are provided of cases involving epidemiological or public health research, reported to COPE over the last 9 years. Suggestions are offered as to how misconduct might be handled in future.

Key words:

Scientific misconduct

Ethics

Journals

Research

Resumen

Aunque la mayor parte de la investigación científica se realiza y comunica de manera honesta, algunos pocos autores inventan o manipulan los datos para obtener conclusiones fraudulentas. Hay, además, otros tipos de malos comportamientos, como proporcionar deliberadamente información incompleta o mal procesada, vulnerar la confidencialidad de los pacientes, atribuir o denegar improcedentemente la autoría, no declarar algún conflicto de interés, publicar de forma duplicada y el plagio. Los editores y revisores externos también pueden actuar erradamente. El Comité Internacional de Directores de Revistas Médicas (el Grupo de Vancouver) y el Consejo de Editores Científicos han elaborado guías de buena práctica. El Comité de Ética en Publicación proporciona diagramas para ayudar a los editores a afrontar los casos de mal comportamiento. En este trabajo se comentan algunos casos prácticos de mala práctica en investigación en epidemiología y salud pública de entre los abordados por el Comité de Ética de publicación durante los últimos 9 años. Se presentan además sugerencias para tratar estas situaciones en el futuro.

Palabras clave:

Malas prácticas

Ética

Publicaciones

Investigación

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