Lect11-Ethics in Research

Mixed Cohort
Ethics in Research
Ethics in Research
Dr. Owais Raza
PhD (Epidemiology)
Assistant Professor
School of Public Health
Dow University of Health Sciences
Outline
• Research Ethics
• Four pillars of ethics
• Confidentiality
• Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Plagiarism
• Authorship
• Four Horsemen of Research Apocalypse
2
Research Ethics
• Use of human subjects in research

• Informed consent, IRB oversight
• Use of animals in research

• Appropriate care/use, Institutional Animal Care and Use
Committee (IACUC) oversight
3
Research Ethics
• Moral debates
• Stem cell research, impact of technology (nuclear
weapons, genetic screening), etc.
• Professional issues
• Authorship, IP rights, confidentiality
4
Four Pillars of ethics
• Autonomy
• Non maleficence
• Beneficence
• Justice
5
Autonomy
• Respecting the individual’s rights of independence, self –

determination and privacy
6
Beneficence
• Research must be of benefit to individuals and society at

large
• Norms that maximize the benefits
7
Non maleficence
• Primun non nocere – first, do not harm
• Research must primarily and actively seek not to do harm
8
Justice
“Giving to each that which is his due.” - Aristotle
• Justice in health care is usually defined as a form of
fairness
9
Confidentiality
• Confidentiality shows a respect for an individual's autonomy

and their right to control the information relating to their own
health
10
Confidentiality
• Confidentiality shows a respect for an individual's autonomy

and their right to control the information relating to their own
health
11
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Also known as an Independent Ethics Committee (IEC) or Ethical

Review Board (ERB)
• Is a committee that has been formally designated to:

• Approve
• Monitor
• review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans
12
Plagiarism
• Borrowing “just a sentence or two” without attribution
• But plagiarism is easily avoided: give the citation
• Citations are good, but stealing citations is not good
13
Example
Smith:
“The parrot is a remarkable bird in many respects. In
terms of intelligence, humor, and manual dexterity, it is
unequalled in the avian kingdom.”
14
Example
Jones, wrong way:
“Parrots are excellent mimics. But the parrot is a
remarkable bird in many other respects. In terms of
intelligence, humor, and [manual] dexterity, it is
unparalleled in the avian kingdom.”
15
Example
Jones, right way:
Parrots are excellent mimics. But in addition, as
Smith (2005) observes, “in terms of intelligence, humor,
and manual dexterity, [they are] unequalled in the avian
kingdom.”
16
Example
• Citations are good, but stealing citations is not good
Smith:
“Rat head direction cells with cosine tuning curves
have been found in parietal cortex (Chen, 1989).”
17
Example
Jones, wrong way:
“Some robots use inertial guidance for maintaining

heading information in unfamiliar environments. There
is evidence for a similar mechanism in the parietal
cortex of rats (Chen, 1989).”
18
Example
• Chen (1989) turns out to be an unpublished PhD thesis that Jones

has never seen, and wouldn't comprehend if he had.
19
Example
Jones, right way:
“Some robots use inertial guidance for maintaining heading
information in unfamiliar environments. There is evidence for
a similar mechanism in the parietal cortex of rats (Smith,
2005, citing Chen, 1989).
20
Authorship
• Authorship
• Requires substantial participation
• The following conditions are all necessary:

• Help to conceive design and method, or help to analyze and interpret data
• Help to draft article or revise its intellectual content.
• Approve final draft.
• Does not justify authorship:

• Secured funding
• Generally supervised the group
• Has seniority or outstanding credentials

21
Authorship
• Avoiding authorship disputes

• Communicate early and often
• Acknowledge sponsor
• If conflicts persist, send colleague in writing a detailed account of your
perspective
22
Authorship
• Research misconduct
• Falsification – altering data
• Fabrication – creating data
• Plagiarism – borrowing ideas or words without appropriate attribution
• Copyright (legal protection of intellectual property)

• Original works of authorship (books, software)
• Covers the particular expression of an idea in the work
• The idea itself cannot be copyrighted.

23
Four Horsemen of Research Apocalypse
• Ghost & guest authorship

• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
• Salami slicing
• Research fraud
• Predatory journal
• Bealls List (https://beallslist.net/)
Hall of Shame
Hall of Shame
Thanks
27

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Mixed Cohort

• Four pillars of ethics

• Institutional Review Board (IRB)

• Four Horsemen of Research Apocalypse

• Use of human subjects in research

• Use of animals in research

• Respecting the individual’s rights of independence, self –

• Research must be of benefit to individuals and society at

• Primun non nocere – first, do not harm

• Research must primarily and actively seek not to do harm

“Giving to each that which is his due.” - Aristotle

• Justice in health care is usually defined as a form of

• Confidentiality shows a respect for an individual's autonomy

• Confidentiality shows a respect for an individual's autonomy

• Also known as an Independent Ethics Committee (IEC) or Ethical

• Is a committee that has been formally designated to:

• Borrowing “just a sentence or two” without attribution

• But plagiarism is easily avoided: give the citation

• Citations are good, but stealing citations is not good

“Some robots use inertial guidance for maintaining

• Chen (1989) turns out to be an unpublished PhD thesis that Jones

• The following conditions are all necessary:

• Help to draft article or revise its intellectual content.

• Approve final draft.

• Does not justify authorship:

• Generally supervised the group

• Has seniority or outstanding credentials

• Avoiding authorship disputes

• Fabrication – creating data

• Plagiarism – borrowing ideas or words without appropriate attribution

• Copyright (legal protection of intellectual property)

• Covers the particular expression of an idea in the work

• The idea itself cannot be copyrighted.

• Ghost & guest authorship

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