How the scientific ethics should be assessed?

The adoption of the slogan (Publish or Perish) is one of the main causes of dishonesty in research because ,under threat, the survival instinct will drive the perpetrator to follow the wrong path of (the end justifies the means). Another cause is the excessively higher weight given to research in promotion compared to teaching or other educational activities (In some universities, a single published research paper gets 10 points while decades of excellent teaching get a maximum of 4 points).

Therefore,in order to keep a job & in order to get promotion, there are scholars who will get out from ethical codes by any trick. Rectification of this wrong doing requires an overall change of the educational system: A new slogan (Publish & then Cherish) is an encouraging one. A balance in assessment of research & teaching (for promotion purposes) will be important in solving the problem of deceit.

Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis

Hi Manish,

You have a couple of good questions folded into your inquiry and they all have ethical implications. Since I am interested in ethics, I would like to take a stab at answering your questions. However, I need a little clarification.

Is your main concern the innocent victims of falsified 'scientific' data? Or -

Are you mainly concerned with the victimizers - the people who publish erroneous 'scientific findings' that they have plagiarized under the erroneous assumption that because they plagiarized material printed in a 'high impact journal' that it must be valid data?

If it is the victimizers (alternative #2) you are concerned about -- Is your concern that they are forced to resort to plagiarism or cheating because of the job pressures they experience?

If alternative #2 is your concern, then you should be aware that victimizers (opportunists who plagiarize material because they are motivated to do whatever it takes to get ahead) are ethically challenged people who don't deserve to have the system changed so that they do not feel pressure to 'publish or perish.' A system that only required sporadic publishing in no-name, low-circulation journals would not relieve the pressure on victimizers as they are lazy people who do not desire to do any amount of work themselves - no matter how undemanding the system in which they find themselves. You see, the willingness to compromise one's standards in order to get ahead is a character flaw; and people with this character flaw are unable to distinguish demanding systems from undemanding systems. Such people feel inferior and lack the self-confidence to perform on their own no matter how mediocre the challenges that they are facing. Most likely, they started copying off of other people's homework already in elementary school.

Your final point about the authenticity of work ("genuinely of work") being appreciated rather than false statements is a little confusing. Do you mean that the plagiarists/victimizers/opportunists should look beyond the prestige of the journal in choosing material to plagiarize? Or, do you mean that the 'high impact' journals should become more discerning in accepting articles so that when people plagiarize their material they will not get stuck with material containing 'fancy false statements'?

Manish, get back to me with whom you wish to help with a 'newly evolved system' that no longer contains unauthentic 'fancy false statements'? Then, I will tell you where I think ethics comes in and how to move the ethically challenged person/entity higher up on Kohlberg's scale of moral development.

Gwen

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