VCU Bioinformatics and Bioengineering Summer Institute
Virginia Commonwealth University
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BBSI Scientific Integrity Workshop
Manners and Methods in Science

Question
What responsibilities do authors on scientific papers bear?
You are a minor contributor on a scientific paper that has eight authors. The first author is found guilty of making up data that was presented in the paper.

  1. As a coauthor, are you guilty of scientific fraud?
  2. Should they all authors be punished equally?
  3. What kind of punishment is appropriate?

Suggestions

  • Here's a possible starting point:
    Rennie et al (1997). When authorship fails. A proposal to make contributors accountable. Journal of the American Medical Association 278:576-578. (only abstract is online, but the journal is in the Tompkins/McCaw library)
  • Survey scientific literature for articles on the responsibilities of authors in cases of misconduct.
    Try:
    • PubMed: Go to NCBI, click on PubMed
    • Web of Science: Go to VCU Library, click on W, then Web of Science
  • Many articles you find will be on line or in the library... read a couple!
  • Surf the web (but beware!)

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