Paper V: Research and Publication Ethics

Paper Code: 
ENG 145
Credits: 
02
Periods/week: 
30/per sem
Unit I: 
Unit I

Philosophy and Ethics

  • Introduction to philosophy: definition; nature & scope; concept; branches
  • Ethics: definition; moral philosophy; nature of moral judgements & reactions

 

Unit II: 
Unit II

Scientific Conduct

  • Ethics with respect to science & research, group discussion on subject specific ethical issues
  • Intellectual honesty & research integrity
  • Scientific misconducts: falsification, fabrication, & plagiarism (FFP), group discussion on subject specific FFP issues
  • Redundant publications: duplicate & overlapping publications, salami slicing
  • Selective reporting & misrepresentation of data

 

Unit III: 
Unit III

Publication Ethics

  • Publication ethics: definition, introduction & importance
  • Best practices/standard setting initiative & guidelines: COPE, WAME etc
  • Conflict of interest, group discussions on conflict of interest
  • Publication misconduct: definition, concept, problems that lead to unethical behaviour & vice versa, types
  • Violation of publication ethics, authorship & contributor-ship, group discussion on subject specific authorship issues
  • Identification of publication misconduct, complaints & appeals, group discussion on examples and fraud from India & abroad
  • Predatory Publishers & journals

 

Unit IV: 
Unit IV

Open Access Publishing

  • Open access publications & initiatives SHERPA/RoMEO online resource to check publisher copyright & self-archiving policies
  • Journal finder/journal suggestion tools viz. JANE, Elsevier Journal Finder, Springer Journal Suggester etc.
  • Software tools developed by SPPU to identify predatory publications
  • Software tools: use of plagiarism software like Turnitin, Urkund, and other open source software tools

 

 

Unit V: 
Unit V

Databases (3 hrs)

  • Indexing databases
  • Citation databases: Web of Science, Scopus, etc.

Research Metrics (3 hrs)

  • Impact Factor of journal as per Journal Citation Report, SNIP, SJR, IPP, Cite Score
  • Metrics: h-index, g index, i10 index, altmetrics

 

 

Source Books: 

Suggested Readings:

Bird, A (2006), Philosophy of Science. Routledge.

MacIntyre, Alasdair (1967) A Short History of Ethics. London.

P. Chaddah, (2018) Ethics in Competitive Research: Do not get scooped; do not get plagiarized, ISBN: 978-9387480865.

National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine. (2009). On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research: Third Edition. National Academics Press.

Resnik, D.B. (2011). What is ethics in research & why is it important. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 1-10. Retrieved from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/index.cfm Beall, J. (2012). Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature, 489(7415), 179-179. https://doi.org/10.1038/489179a

Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Ethics in Science Education, Research and Governance(2019), ISBN: 978-81-939482-1-7. http://www.insaindia.res.in/pdf/Ethics_Book.pdf

 

Academic Year: 
2022-2023