Page 17 - Ethical Guidelines for Conducting Research Studies Involving Human Subjects

credit (plagiarism)- all are against the values on which science is based.
These acts of scientific misconduct not only undermine progress the values
of scientific institutions. Anyone who engages in any of these practices is
putting his or her scientific career at risk. Even infractions that may seem
minor at the time can end up being severely punished.

The ethical transgressions discussed earlier - such as misallocation of
credit or errors arising from negligence– are matters that generally remain
internal to the scientific community. Usually they are dealt with locally
through the mechanisms of peer review, administrative action, and the
system of appointments and evaluations in the research environment. But
misconduct in science is unlikely to remain internal to the scientific
community. Its consequences are too extreme: it can harm individuals
outside of science (as when falsified results become the basis of a medical
treatment) and it attracts the attention of those who would seek to criticize
science. As a result, Govt. agencies and the courts can all get involved.

Within the scientific community, the effects of misconduct - in terms of lost
time, forfeited recognition to others, and feelings of personal betrayal - can
be devastating. Individuals, institutions, and even entire research fields
can suffer grievous setbacks from instances of fabrication, falsification, or
plagiarism even if they are only tangentially associated with the case.

When individuals have been accused of scientific misconduct in the past,
the institutions responsible for responding to those accusations have taken
a number of different approaches. In general, the most successful
responses are those that clearly separate a preliminary investigation to
gather information from a subsequent adjudication to judge guilt or
innocence and issue sanctions if necessary. During the adjudication stage,
the individual accused of misconduct has the right to various due process

protections, such as reviewing the evidence gathered during the
investigation and cross-examining witness.

In addition to falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism, other ethical
transgressions directly associated with research can cause serious harm to
individuals and institutions. Examples include cover-ups of misconduct in
science, and violations of due process in handling complaints of misconduct
in science. Policymakers and scientists have not decided whether such
actions should be considered misconduct in science and therefore subject to
the same procedures and sanctions as falsification, fabrication, and
plagiarism.

BMRC ETHICAL GUIDELINE ON HUMAN SUBJECTS Page 13