Scientific Publishing

Peer reviewed-research articles have long played a significant role in science – facilitating scientific progress by permitting the sharing of methods, results, and interpretations, and establishing a mechanism for judging the expertise and productivity of individual researchers. Perhaps because publications hold such value, some individuals have sought to circumvent traditional publication practices so as increase their professional standing. The damage that can be inflicted on the researcher, their colleagues, and the scientific enterprise by such incidents has led a number of scientific societies, institutions, funding agencies, and journals to develop guidelines outlining responsible conduct with regard to publishing research articles. This article outlines some of the major ethical concerns regarding publication practices, describes some of the points at which a conflict in values or obligations may arise, and discusses some of the mechanisms that have been developed to minimize such conflicts and their impact on the relevant discipline and on science and society more generally. Although this article focuses specifically on peer reviewed-research articles, many of the issues discussed – for example, plagiarism, honorary authorship, and failure of scholarship – are equally relevant to other forms of publications including abstracts, review articles, and monographs.