Ethical research writing practices

There are lot of things to be considered while writing a research paper. Clear expression,
conciseness, accuracy, honesty are to maintained. In scientific writing, plagiarism is the most
serious ethical lapse. As per American Association of University Professors, Plagiarism means
"Taking over the ideas, methods, or written words of another, without acknowledgment and
with the intention that they be taken as the work of the deceiver." In simple words plagiarism
refers to copying of words, images, processes, structure and design elements, ideas, etc. of
others and presenting them as one’s own. Plagiarism can happen in various ways
1. Plagiarism of ideas
2. Plagiarism of text
3. Inappropriate paraphrasing
4. Self-plagiarism
5. Duplicate (dual) publication
6. Redundancy, publication overlap and other forms of duplication
7. Inappropriate and fraudlent manipulation of references
Some good practices to be followed by an ethical researcher is that
• An ethical writer must acknowledge the contributions of others to his/her work.
• Any text or data taken from another source must be enclosed in quotation marks and
should be followed by a citation to indicate its origin.
• When we summarize other’s work, we should use our own words and convey others
contributions in a shorter version of the original.
• When paraphrasing other’s work, not only must we use our own words, but we must
also use our own syntax for that one must have a thorough command of the language
and a good understanding of the idea.
• Whether we are paraphrasing or summarizing we must always identify the source of
our information.
• When paraphrasing or summarizing other’s work we must ensure that we are
reproducing the exact meaning of the other author’s ideas or facts and that we are
doing so using our own words and literature.
• Authors must be mindful of reader’s expectations and other applicable issues related
to intellectual content rights.
• The references used in a paper should only be those that are directly related to its
contents.
• Always cite the actual work.
Authorship
▪ Authorship determination should be discussed before the start of research work and
should be based on established guidelines.
▪ Only those people who have made considerable contributions to a project should be
mentioned in paper and the written work should not fail to identify those people who
made significant contributions to the research.
▪ Academic and organisational ghost authorship is not at all acceptable.
▪ Researchers must know the possible areas in which conflict of interests are probable
to happen.