Manual for Research and Publication Ethics in Science and Engineering
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Manual for Research and Publication Ethics in Science and Engineering Authors: Eun Seong Hwang, Eun Hee Cho, Young-Mog Kim, Kibeom Park, Wha-Chul Son, Tae-Woong Yoon, Jeong Mook Lim Title: Manual for research and publication ethics in science and engineering Published by Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, Seoul, Korea (http://kofst.or.kr/). Printed and bound in Korea on January 22, 2016 © Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies This is an open-access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. National Library of Korea Cataloging In Publication (CIP) Manual for Research and Publication Ethics in Science and Engineering / Eun Seong Hwang, Eun Hee Cho, Young-Mog Kim, Kibeom Park, Wha-Chul Son, Tae-Woong Yoon, Jeong Mook Lim [Authors]. -- Seoul: Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, 2016 p. ; cm ISBN 978-89-5938-345-0 93190 : Not for sale Science and engineering Ethics Research and development 195.94-KDC6 174.95-DDC23 CIP2016000472 http://dx.doi.org/10.6087/manual_ethics_2016_01 Amount of print copies: 1,000 This book was supported by the Korean Government (2015). This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manual for Research and Publication Ethics in Science and Engineering Eun Seong Hwang, Eun Hee Cho, Young-Mog Kim, Kibeom Park, Wha-Chul Son, Tae-Woong Yoon, Jeong Mook Lim AIMS & SCOPE, TARGETED READERS, LIMITATIONS, AND USE Aims & scope This manual covers a wide range of issues regarding research and publication ethics in science and engineering, and written to raise South Korea and other Asian countries’ standards of research and publication ethics in the sciences up to the international level. Targeted readers This manual is for anyone interested in scientific research or journal editing: in other words, researchers or students in the sciences, journal editors, editorial staff members, publishers, manuscript editors, statistical editors, peer reviewers, employees of journal publishing houses, librarians, etc. Authors or journalists who write professionally on scientific topics or members of the public who are interested in research and publication ethics are well suited to join the audience as well. But, this manual is also helpful to the students who are performing scientific researches and writing research articles. Level of content This manual will be most helpful to scientific researchers, managers of journals, and the readers of those journals. In order to fully understand the contents, one must have at least submitted or evaluated a research paper, or must be currently involved in journal-related work. But, this manual is also helpful to scientists and students at any level once they are performing researches and writing research articles. Limitations This book addresses the international standards of ethics and the level of ethics of ordinary South Korean researchers and citizens as of 2014. Because ethics may evolve over time, it would be hasty to conclude that the contents of this manual will forever indicate the correct standard. As time passes, more appropriate standards of ethics may be proposed for certain circumstances. Use Anyone may use the contents of this manual for research purposes by disclosing sources according to the Creative Commons Attribution License. This manual may be especially useful in workshops for editors, manuscript editors, and journal article reviewers and contributors. When citing parts of this manual, we recommend citing the original works listed in the reference section. Expected time for comprehension At least one hour; at most 96 hours iv CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND DISCLAIMER Conflict of interest The authors have no conflict of interest with any of the agencies discussed in this manual. Disclaimer • Liability Neither the publisher nor the authors will be legally liable for the material presented here. In addition, they cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information provided. • Privacy/confidentiality policy Personal information is protected by the Privacy Protection Act of the South Korean government, and no personal information shall be collected. Using personal information for commercial or criminal purposes is prohibited. • Endorsement This manual does not endorse any products. The opinions written here shall not be used for the advertisement or endorsement of products. • Accuracy of information Because information evolves continuously, this manual does not guarantee the accuracy of information. • Disclaimer Neither the publisher nor the authors will be legally liable for any of the contents, so readers must keep this premise in mind when reading this manual. • Advertisement This manual does not handle advertisements for commercial enterprises. v PREFACE Manual for research and publication ethics in science and engineering With the development of world class research infrastructure in East Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan, high quality research is conducted, producing internationally-recognized findings. In other Asian countries, science and technology are also undergoing rapid development, and research outcomes are being actively discussed domestically. The dissemination of results is central to research, and scientists are seeking to have their work read and cited as widely as possible, usually through internationally acclaimed scientific journals. Editors of domestic academic journals have also been making efforts to internationalize their journals to publicize their papers and researchers to an international audience. International exposure increases the number of citations of a researcher's work. At the same time, however, research is also open to greater scrutiny, and flaws in the research process are more widely open to criticism. While most flaws are unintentional, in some cases, deliberate breaches of scientific integrity have been identified. A researcher’s advancement in science is not achieved solely through publication of a large body of work in internationally recognized journals. A scientist needs to adopt good research practices. Conducting and publishing research with integrity is key to the genuine advancement of science, of an individual, a country, and humanity. Recently, the demand for guidelines on research and publication ethics has increased in Korean academic society. Research and publication ethics has always been considered an area that researchers learned from experience or through one-on-one interactions with mentors. However, most researchers now think there should be formal instruction of the common guidelines for research practices. The authors share this view and have noted in their teaching experience that a decent number of scientists think they have not received the necessary exposure to ethics and research guidance, and thus had insufficient time to fully embrace research integrity. It also appears that unlike in the past, different fields of research allow varying practices, resulting in confusion in establishing standards and values of research integrity that are important to science. We believe such a phenomenon rings true in other Asian countries as well. In light of this situation, we, the authors, have published a research and publication ethics manual in Korean and distributed the book and its PDF file to universities and research institutions nationwide. The publication was immediately received with an enthusiastic welcome from the Korean vi academic society and has since become a companion for scholars devoted to conducting research with high integrity. The purpose of translating this manual into English is to reach other Asian researchers to assist in establishing and promoting appropriate standards of research ethics in the broader Asian scientific community. This manual presents guidelines for good research practices for scholars in most fields of science and engineering. The following aspects of research and publication ethics are discussed: • Key principles for ethical conduct and standards in research; • Research misconduct and inappropriate research practices; • Ethical guidelines for editors to follow during the publication process, including: writing, submission, editing, and reviewing stages; • Instructions on the use of CrossCheck to screen for plagiarism; • Guidelines for institutions on handling cases of research misconduct; • Instructions for identifying and resolving conflicts of interest; • Ethical principles and practical guidelines for studying human and animal subjects; and • Concepts of research integrity and guidelines for its practice in laboratories. This manual is also intended to be a: • Reference for researchers to ensure integrity while undertaking research and writing papers; • Reference for universities, institutions, and academic societies when addressing ethical issues related to their members’ research and as guidelines for practicing good research standards; and • Textbook or basic reference material for a class on research ethics for science and engineering students. It is our great pleasure to provide readers of this manual with up-to-date international standards on research and publication ethics. Eun Seong Hwang, Ph.D. Chair, Committee for Publication Ethics, Korean Council of Science Editors vii MAIN PURPOSES OF THE MANUAL Purpose of publication • This manual provides a reference for individual researchers to prevent any violation