SCIENTIFIC
MISCONDUCT
Gretchen Pearson, Public Services Librarian
445-4154, pearson@lemoyne.edu
Common terms and definitions
Copyright
Legal protection
for tangible intellectual property of an original artistic work (not to be confused
with trademark or patent), such as writings, music, and works of art that have
been tangibly expressed. The Library of Congress registers copyrights which
last for the life of the author plus 70 years. Copyright
protection is international, based on agreements
signed by countries.
Intellectual
Property
From WIPO: creations of the mind, including copyrighted
material, trademarks, patents, and may sometimes be referred to as industrial
property.
Common Knowledge
From Indiana U. Writing Tutorial:
facts which can be easily verified in a number of places and are likely to be
known by a large number of people. Both must apply, if you didn't know it, and
had to look it up, you should cite it.
Facts
Cannot be
copyrighted. But, this does not mean that you do not need to cite them
when using in your own work! Facts can be manipulated, or added to other
facts to create something which can be copyrighted, such as baseball statistics
/ box scores.
Patent
A property
right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor
to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention
throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States
for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the
patent is granted. See US Patent and Trademark
Office.
Pathological Science
Term coined by a Nobel-prize winning chemist, Irving Langmuir, "the science of things that aren't so." Objected to by many, such as the author of the following article:
http://www.hyle.org/journal/issues/8-1/bauer.htm
Plagiarism
Presenting
someone else's ideas or work as your own, without attribution.
For additional information and links, please see my web page at http://www.lemoyne.edu/library/plagiarism.htm
Scientific
Misconduct or Fraud
Includes
plagiarism, and fabrication or falsification of data. See Office
of Research Integrity.
Trademark
Legal protection
for a name or symbol which identifies a product, company, or item. Protects
words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services.
Trademarks, unlike patents, can be renewed forever as long as they are being
used in business. See
USPTO.
How
does it happen?
Data fabrication
Making up data
Falsification
or elimination
Changing data or the results
Eliminating data that do not support desired results
Plagiarism
Copying other's lab work or results, or even whole published articles
Copying other published works, either in part or in their entirety
Sabotage
Deliberately changing another's work to cause failure
Who is Responsible?
Individual
Research supervisor
Institutions of employment
Funding organizations
What
are the Repercussions?
Loss of reputation
Loss of funding
Loss of job
Loss of public trust
Loss of collegial trust
Loss of life
Professional organizations and their ethics
American Academy of Physician Assistants
For additional reading on this topic, please consult the Scientific Misconduct Bibliography link on the Plagiarism web page.
4 September 2002