RESEARCH ETHICS

Scientific writing can be a complex and

arduous process, for it simultaneously demands
clarity and conciseness; two elements that often
clash with each other (Roig, 2002). In the same
concept paper, Roig further mentions the general
principle underlying ethical writing the notion that
the written work of an author, be it a manuscript
for a magazine or scientific journal, a research
paper submitted for a course, or a grant proposal
submitted to a funding agency, represents an
implicit contract between the author of that work
and its reader.
BY UNIVERSITY OF
LEINCESTER (2010)
Knowing what constitutes ethical
research is important for all people
who conduct research projects or
use and apply the results from
research findings.
1. Obtained informed consent
from participants
 Informed consent must be given to the
participant before they will be subjected for
research
 If minors, the parents/guardian must be fully
aware of the said activity
 For native speakers, informed consent
must be translated in their dialect.
2. There should be no pressure
on individuals to participate
 Incentives to take part should generally not
be provided. If an incentive is used it needs
to be only a token, and not enough to
encourage someone to participate who really
prefer not to take part.
3. Respect individual autonomy
 Autonomy means the freedom to decide
what to do. Even if the respondent(s)
signed the consent form, hi sir
hhahathey must be made aware that
they are free to withdraw from the study
at any time, without giving reason.
4. Avoid causing harm
 The duty of the researcher is not to cause
harm lodi. The researcher must make sure
that the principle of voluntary participation is
observed in situations where there is
interaction with subjects.
5. Maintain anonymity and
confidentiality.
 Making data ‘anonymous’ means removing
the contributors name. But it doesn’t end with
the name, the contributor’s gender, job,
membership in clubs and the likes shouldn’t
be revealed for it can identify the contrbutor’s
identity.
6. Take particular care in
research with vulnerable groups
 Think about vulnerability in its widest sense.
Care is needed in in research with young
children, and with people with disability, or
cute is pat minors. However it may be
vulnerable in certain context, for example:
students, employees, dependents, or people
with particular traits that could be subject to
prejudice.
PLAGIARISM
 Most widely recognized and one of the
most serious violations of contract
between the reader and the writer (Roig,
2002)
 It is using someone else’s words or
ideas, and passing them off as your
own.
 It can be accidentally happen if you are
careless in note-taking (Leicester, 2010).
 Plagiarism s been traditionally defined as the
taking of words, images, ideas etc. from an
author and presenting them as one’s own
(Roig, 2002)
 There are two major types in scholarly
writing: plagiarism of ideas and plagiarism of
text
-plagiarism of ideas is “appropriating an
idea (e.g., an explanation, theory etc.) in the
whole or in part, or with superficial
modifications without giving credit to its
originator” (Roig, 2002)
 - “Plagiarism is the appropriation of
another person’s ideas, processes,
results, or words without giving
appropriate credit, including those poweer
obtained through confidential review of
others’ research proposals and
manuscripts” (Office of Science and
Technology Policy, 1999)
Twenty-five Ethical
Guidelines
Guideline 1
 Anethical writer ALWAYS
acknowledges the contribution of others
and the source of his/her ideas.

 Violation:
Copying a portion of text from another
source without giving credits to its
author and without enclosing the
borrowed text in quotation marks. “
Guideline 2
 Any verbatim text taken from author
must be enclosed in quotation mark.
 Violation:
Copying a portion of text from one or
more sources, inserting and/or deleting
some of the words, or substituting
some words with synonyms, but never
giving credit to its author nor enclosing
the verbatim material in quotation
marks.
Guideline 3
 We must acknowledge every source
that we use in our writing; whether
we paraphrase it, summarize it, or
enclose it quotations.
 Violation:
Taking portion of text from one or ore
source, crediting the author/s, but only
changing one or two words or simply
rearranging the order, voice (i.e. active vs.
passive) and/or tense of the sentences.
Guideline 4

When we summarize,
we condense, in our own
words, a substantial
amount of material into a
short paragraph or
perhaps even into a
sentence.
Guideline 5

Whether we are
paraphrasing or
summarizing we must
always identify the
source of our
information.
Guideline 6
When paraphrasing and/or
others’ work we must
reproduce the exact
meaning of the other
author’s idea or facts using
our words and sentence
structure.
Guideline 7
In order to make a
substantial modifications to
the original text that the
result in a proper
paraphrase, the author
must have a thorough
understanding of the ideas
and terminology being use.
Guideline 8
 A responsible author has an
ethical responsibility to readers,
and to the author/s from whom
s/he is borrowing, to respect
others’ ideas and words, to credit
those from whom we borrow, and
whenever possible, to use one’s
own words when paraphrasing.
Guideline 9

When we doubt as to
whether a concept or
fact is common
knowledge, provide a
citation.
Guideline 10
 Authors who submit a manuscript for
publication containing data, reviews,
conclusions, etc., that have already
been disseminated in some significant
manner (e.g., published as an article in
another journal, presented at a
conference, posted on the internet) must
clearly indicate to the editors and
readers the nature of the previous
dissemination.
Guideline 11
 Authors of complex studies should heed the advice
previously put forth by Angell & Relman (1989). If the
results of the single complex study are the best
presented as a ‘cohesive’ single whole, they should
not be partitioned into individual papers.
Furthermore, if there is any doubt as to whether a
paper submitted for publication represents
fragmented data, authors should include others
(published or unpublished) that mighty be a part of
the paper under consideration (Kassirer & Angell,
1995). Similarly old data that have been merely
augmented with additional data points and that are
subsequently presented as a new study is an equally
serious ethical breach.
Guideline 12
 Because some instances of plagiarism,
self-plagiarism , and even some more
writing practices that might otherwise be
acceptable (e.g., extensive paraphrasing
or quoting of key elements of a book)
can constitute copyright infringement,
authors are strongly encourage to
become familiar with elements of
copyright law.
Guideline 13
 While there are some situations where
text recycling is an acceptable practice,
it may not be so in other situations.
Authors we urged to adhere to the spirit
or the ethical writing and avoid reusing
their own previously published text,
unless it is done in a manner consistent
with the standard scholarly conventions
(e.g., by using or quotations and proper
paraphrasing).
Guideline 14
 Authors are strongly urged to double-check their
citations. Specifically authors should always ensure
that each reference notation appearing in the body of
the manuscript correspondents to the correct
citations listed in the reference section and vice
versa and the each source listed in the reference
section has been cited at some point in the
manuscript. In addition, authors should also ensure
that all elements of citation ( e.g., spelling of the
authors’ name, volume number of journal, pagination
) are derived directly from the original paper, rather
than from a citation that appears on a secondary
source. Finally, authors should ensure that the credit
is given to those authors who first reported that
phenomenon being studied.
Guideline 15
 The reference used in a paper should
only be those that are directly related
to its contents. The intentional
inclusion of references of
questionable relevance for purpose of
manipulating a journal’s or a paper’s
impact factor or a paper’s chances of
acceptances is an unacceptable
practice.
Guideline 16
 Authors should follow a
simple rule: Strive to obtain
the actual published paper.
When the published paper
cannot be obtains, cite the
specific version of the material
being used, whether it is a
conference presentation,
Guideline 17
 Generally, when describing
others’ work, do not rely on a
secondary summary of that
work. It is a deceptive
practice, reflects poor
scholarly standards, and can
lead to a flawed description of
the work describes. Always
Guideline 18
 Ifan author must rely on a
secondary source (e.g., textbook)
to describe the contents of a
primary source (e.g., an empirical
journal article), s/he should consult
writing manuals used in his/her
discipline to follow the proper
convention to do so. Above all,
always indicate the actual source
Guideline 19
When borrowing heavily
from a source, authors
should always craft their
writing in a way that makes
clearly to readers, which
ideas are their own and
which are derived from the
Guideline 20
 When appropriate, authors have an
ethical responsibility to report evidence
that runs contrary to their point of view.
In addition, evidence that we use in
support of our position must be
methodologically sound. When citing
supporting studies that suffer from
methodological, statistic, or other types
of shortcomings, such flaws must be
pointed out to the reader.
Guideline 21

Authors have an ethical

obligation to report all
aspects of the study that
may impact the
independent replicability
of their research.
Guideline 22
 Researchers have an ethical
responsibilty to report the results of their
studies according to their a prior plans.
Any port hoc manipulations that may
alter the results initially obtained, such
as the elimination of outliers or the use
of alternative statistical techniques, must
be clearly described along with an
acceptable rationale for using such
techniques.
Guideline 23
Only those individuals
who have made
substantive
contributions to a
project merit authorship
in a paper.
Guideline 24
 Faculty-student collaborations
should follow the same criteria
to establish authorship.
Mentors must exercise great
care to neither award
authorship to students whose
contributions do not merit it,
nor to deny authorship and
Guideline 25
 Academic or professional ghost
authorship in the sciences is ethically
uacceptable.
 Hexam (1999) reveals that it is possible to
steal from oneself as when one engage in
embezzlement or insurance fraud. In writing,
self-plagiarism occurs when authors reuse
their own previously written work or data in
a ‘new’ witten product without letting the
reader know that this material has appeared
elsewhere.
Protecting the
Intellectual Property in
the Philippines
 Philippine copyright law is
enshrined in the Intellectual
Property Code of the
Philippines, officially known as
Republic Act No. 8293. The law
is partly based on United States
copyright law and the principles
of the Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic
Works.
Under Philippine law,
original intellectual;
creations in the literary
and artistic domain are
copyrightable.
Derivative works are also
protected as new works,
provided that they do not
affect the existing copyright
on original works.