Esof

Avoiding more than just plagiarism

Avoiding more than just plagiarism

Núria Llavina Rubio

Reme Melero, a researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology of Spain’s National Research Council (CSIC) and vice president of the European Association of Science Editors (EASE).

Misconduct in the sciences encompasses more than just plagiarism. There are also cases of self-plagiarism, redundant publications, data masking, concealment of critical information, ghosting writing and the violation of the rights of humans or animals in experiments.

These practices exist, and the role of publishers in discovering them before they reach the public is very important because publishing is the main avenue science has to reach society at large. However, quality control is very complicated and often not very rigorous, “although the Internet is helping more and more with this hard work,” said Remedios Melero, a researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology of Spain’s National Research Council and vice-president of the European Association of Scientific Editors (EASE).

In July, Melero and four other publishing professionals will participate in the ESOF 2010 session “Misconduct in science communication and the role of editors as science gatekeepers.” The session, organized by EASE, is part of the Career Programme, aimed at doctoral and postdoctoral students and young researchers with the aim of offering them the opportunity to discuss the future of European research in terms of policies, mobility, scientific communication and publishing.

The objective of EASE, which offers a guide to publishers through its website, is to provide international guidance to all those who share in science communications and publishing. The speakers will address the subject of the ethics of scientific publishing, not just dealing with the problems caused by bad behavior, but also how to detect them. The session will be based on a public debate on the specific issues of integrity in science as well as analysis and discussion of some real cases of misconduct. Among the objectives is to include the public in the debate, so that attendees can resolve issues related to scientific fraud and conflict of interest.

Melero, the editor of Food Science Technology International, will focus her talk on so-called “Salami publications,” which consists in separately publishing parts of the same set of findings in various journals. In the end, of course, such studies are not meaningful in themselves and lose the global nature of the real research.

Her lecture is entitled “Undesirable Neighbors: Mrs. Redundancy and Mr. Plagiarism, and Mr.Ghost and Mrs. Gift.” Through a 10-minute game/comic strip, she will explain the concept through the lives of two couples, who live in the “Resort of misconduct,” where salami publications, fraud, conflict of interests and hidden content are popular pursuits among neighbors. She will also provide some recommendations to avoid falling into these examples of malpractice.

Ana Marušic, researcher and freelance editor at the University of Zagreb’s School of Medicine in Croatia, will also participate in the session. She will focus her talk, “How to proceed in case you detect misconduct,” on the importance of linguistic consultants, translators and publishers in preventing violations of correct scientific conduct. Among the possibilities are actions to warn authors of suspicious behavior or to correct inconsistencies or errors in the presentation of data. When in doubt or in need of clarifying of unclear fragments, there is the possibility of asking the author to suggest corrections or requesting further explanations. Her talk will explain everything through case studies and how they have been resolved.

Also participating in the meeting will be Joan Marsh, president of the EASE; Arjan Polderman, former president of the Association, with the talk “Introduction role editors vs integrity;” and Sylwia Ufnalska, editor and freelance translator, with “What can an author's editor help to promote research integrity?.”

For more information: July 3, 15:45-17:00: “Misconduct in science communication and the role of editors as science gatekeepers”

Link to ESOF program

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Avoiding more than just plagiarism

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