Research And Publication Ethics

THEORY

Module 1 – Philosophy and Ethics

1. Introduction to philosophy definition, nature and scope, branches.
2. Ethics: definition moral philosophy, nature of moral judgments and reactions.

Module 2 – Scientific Conduct

1. Ethics with respect to science and research.
2. Intellectual honesty and research integrity.
3. Scientific misconducts: Falsification, Fabrication, and Plagiarism (FFP).
4. Redundant publications duplicate and overlapping publications, salami slicing.
5. Selective reporting and misrepresentation of data.

Module 3 – Publication Ethics

1. Publication ethics: definition, introduction and importance.
2. Best practices / standards setting initiatives and guidelines: COPE, WAME, etc.
3. Conflicts of interest.
4. Publication misconducts: definition, concept, problems that lead to unethical behavior and vice versa, types.
5. Violation of publication ethics, authorship and contributorship.
6. Identification of publication misconduct, complaints and appeals.

PRACTICE

Module 4 – Open Access Publishing

1. Open access publication and initiatives.
2. HERPA/RoMEO online resource to check publisher copyright & self –archiving policies.
3. Software tool to identify predatory publication developed by SPPU.
4. Journal finder/ journal suggestion tools viz. JANE, Elsevier Journal Finder, Springer Journal Suggested, etc.

Module 5 – Publication Misconduct

A) Group Discussions

1. Subject specific ethical issues, FFP, authorship.
2. Conflicts of interest.
3. Complaints and appeals: examples and fraud from India and abroad.

B) Software tools

Use of plagiarism software line Turnitin, Urkund and other open source software tools.

Module 6 – Databases and Research Metrics

A) Databases

1. Indexing databases .
2. Citation databases: Web of Science, Scopus, etc.

B) Research Metrics

1. Impact factor of journal as per Journal Citation Report, SNIP, SJR, IPP, Cite Score.
2. Metrics: h-index, g index, i10 index, Altmetrics