Research Ethics

Research ethics provides guidelines for the responsible conduct of research. In addition, it educates and monitors scientists conducting research to ensure a high ethical standard. Ethical conduct ensures that research is reliable, truthful, and respects the rights of all human and animal subjects involved.

1. The FFP of Research Misconduct

The core violations of research ethics are categorized as FFP (Fabrication, Falsification, and Plagiarism). According to international scientific standards, these are considered severe academic fraud.

• Fabrication: Making up data or results and recording or reporting them. (e.g., A researcher never actually conducted the survey but created an Excel sheet full of fake responses).
• Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing/omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. (e.g., Deleting "outlier" data points specifically to make a p-value statistically significant).
• Plagiarism: The appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. It is essentially intellectual theft.

2. Ethics Regarding Human Subjects

When research involves human participants (such as in psychology, medicine, or sociology), strict ethical guidelines must be followed to protect their well-being and rights.

• Informed Consent: Participants must be fully informed about the purpose of the research, procedures, potential risks, and benefits before they agree to participate. They must participate voluntarily.
• Right to Withdraw: Participants must have the right to withdraw from the study at any time without facing any negative consequences or pressure.
• Anonymity and Confidentiality:
  • Anonymity: The researcher does not collect identifying information (names, IDs) so even the researcher cannot link the data to a specific person.
  • Confidentiality: The researcher knows the identity of the participants but legally/ethically promises not to reveal it to anyone else or publish it.
• Avoidance of Harm: The research must not cause physical, psychological, or emotional harm to the participants. If deception is necessary for the experiment (e.g., a placebo trial), a thorough debriefing must occur immediately afterward.

3. Ethics Regarding Publication and Authorship

Ethical guidelines also govern how research is shared with the academic community.

• Salami Slicing: An unethical practice where a researcher takes data from a single comprehensive study and splits it into multiple smaller papers just to increase their publication count.
• Ghost Authorship: When someone who made a substantial contribution to the research is excluded from the author list.
• Guest/Gift Authorship: Including someone as an author (often a senior professor or department head) who made no actual contribution to the research, usually to increase the paper's chances of acceptance.
• Conflict of Interest: Researchers must disclose any financial or personal relationships that might bias their work (e.g., a study proving a drug is safe, funded entirely by the pharmaceutical company that makes the drug).

4. Role of the Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Before any primary research involving human or animal subjects can begin, the research proposal must be reviewed and approved by an ethics committee or Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the university. The IRB ensures that the methodology complies with all ethical standards and that subject risk is minimized.