What is this about? (Is About)
From The Embassy of Good Science
A short summary providing some details about the theme/resource (max. 75 words)
- ⧼SA Foundation Data Type⧽: Text
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This study explores the reasons why some clinical teachers attend centralized faculty development activities, compares their responses with those of their colleagues who do not attend these activities and suggest how faculty development programs can be more applicable to teachers' needs. +
Researchers within a multi-institutional project did not devise a contract regarding intellectual property until it was too late. +
This short article provides information about some cases of inaccurate representation of research results in the media and gives a researcher's opinion on the matter. +
Selling authorship for scientific articles is an unethical but increasingly prevalent issue in academia. This practice undermines the integrity of scientific research by allowing individuals to claim undeserved credit, creating mistrust in the scientific community. The topic investigates into how this trend threatens academic standards and highlights the challenges institutions face in combating this issue.
Examples in real world:
a)Authorship for sale platforms: Several online platforms (X, former Twitter, has had a public account with different price ranges for first (8 thousand dollars) to last author position (3 thousand dollars)), forums, or third-party brokers openly offer authorship on scientific papers. These services connect individuals willing to pay for co-authorship or even first authorship with researchers or predatory journals. The offer does not stop there, there all also sales for patent designs, book publications, conference abstracts.
b) Predatory journals: Many predatory journals accept payment in exchange for authorship or even guarantee publication without rigorous peer review. These journals exploit the academic pressure to publish while ignoring ethical guidelines.
c) Guest authorship: Senior academics or influential figures are sometimes added as authors, despite having no significant contribution, to increase a paper's credibility or likelihood of acceptance in prestigious journals.
d) Ghostwriting services: Ghostwriting companies write entire papers and assign authorship to paying clients. These clients often have little or no involvement in the research or writing process, misrepresenting their expertise and contributions.
e) Institutional pressure: In some institutions, there is an unspoken culture of rewarding quantity over quality in publications. This leads to unethical practices, such as honorary or undeserved authorship, particularly among faculty members seeking promotions or tenure.
f) Coercive authorship: Supervisors or senior researchers might pressure students or junior colleagues to include them as co-authors, regardless of their actual contribution, perpetuating unethical practices.
g) High-impact journal manipulation: Some researchers target high-impact journals by buying authorship on studies already accepted or under review, leveraging these publications for career advancement or securing funding.<div></div>
A study compared two ways of nursing premature infants who require respiratory support. False results were generated by the study. This is a factual case. +
Jim Burke is preparing a presentation for Professor Rassmussen as part of his duties as research assistant. He notices that some of the data covered in the presentation might have been made up by the intervieweres. The case study asks whether he should mention it to Rassmussen and what Rassmussen should do in the situation. +
The case describes a clinical trial of an existing drug in Japan. Several universities performed the trial in collaboration with a large pharmaceutical company. The drug did not work as expected, and the researchers tried to bury the results. Eventually the case came to light, resulting in an elaborate apology from the researchers. +
An editor gives a researcher who is a friend an unfair advantage in the competitive world of publishing. +
The Federal Open Access Law (2014), issued by the Mexican Federal Government, provides a national framework for open science and open access in Mexico. Written in Spanish, it translates high-level principles into actionable guidance for researchers, institutions, funders, and publishers, promoting openness as the default while respecting ethics, privacy, intellectual property, and security. The law links openness to research quality, reproducibility, equitable access, and faster translation of knowledge, particularly for communities with limited subscription access. Key elements include open access to publications with preferred licensing (e.g., Creative Commons), deposition in trusted repositories, FAIR data principles, and comprehensive data management plans. Responsibilities for authors and institutions cover funding acknowledgment, rights retention, and budgeting, while justified embargoes and exceptions for sensitive, commercial, or security-relevant data are transparently documented. The law encourages enabling infrastructure repositories, registries, discovery services and aligns with international initiatives such as Plan S and the European Open Science Cloud. Assessment emphasizes the quality of openness, including machine-readable metadata, persistent identifiers, and sharing of methods, code, and data. Equity, multilingual communication, and capacity building are highlighted to prevent reinforcing disparities. Implementation relies on early planning, institutional support, and funder-backed infrastructure. The law serves as a practical reference, checklist, and benchmark, supporting compliance, transparency, reproducibility, and alignment with global norms. +
The Federation of European Pharmacolgical Societies aims to advance research and education in pharmacology and related sciences, and to promote co-operation between national and regional pharmacological societies in Europe. +
Federation of European Toxicologists and European Societies of Toxicology (Eurotox) Code of Ethics +
The Federation of European Toxicologists and European Societies of Toxicology (Eurotox) unites more than 6,000 members from across Europe, and aims to foster the science and education of toxicology, influence regulatory and policy frameworks to promote the safety of humans, animals and the environment, and protect global health. +
In this project, the usefulness and applicability of a selection of fiction movies for RCR education were investigated.
A format for structured description of (fragments of) movies was developed and after pilot testing consensus on the format was achieved. This format was applied to 31 movies. Not all movies in our initial selection were deemed useful for RCR education; 20 movies remained in the final selection.
Legal and practical aspects of using (fragments of) movies for educational purposes and of sharing the teaching materials online (creative commons) were explored. +
This case is about fabricating results in clinical examination and misrepresenting academic credentials. +
This activity reinforces your understanding of sustainable decision-making in engineering. +
Finnish Guidance on the Responsible Conduct of Research and Procedures for Handling Allegations of Misconduct +
In 1994, the Advisory Board formulated the first national guidelines to handle cases of alleged research misconduct. The objective of the guidelines was to recognise research misconduct and to establish common norms for handling alleged misconduct. These guidelines were revised in 1998, 2002 and updated in 2012.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000018-QINU`"'
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This document present various recommendations on the supervision of doctoral dissertations and their review process with a special emphasis on research integrity. The recommendations were prepared by the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity and Universities Finland and presented to the universities in Finland. The document covers topics ranging from applying for doctoral students, the supervision process, issues of copyright, authorship and research data, the stages of (pre-) examination of the dissertation and the publication of the dissertation. In addition, a separate section is dedicated to the responsible conduct of research and possible violations. +
This guideline details the prerequisites for good authorship, and the different misconduct practices associated with authorship. It makes references to national and international norms of authorship. +
Finnish TJNK Guideline on Bold Communication, Responsible Influence. Science Communication Recommendations +
This document, authored by the Committee for Public Information in Finland (TJNK), is in essence a plan for communicating science to the society. It details what science communication is, why it is essential, what its goals are and the ethos behind it. +
Video on research integrity and ethics. +
First steps towards Open Science in Albania (), Hasani, S., Stefanova, E., Georgiev, A., & Stefanov, K. +
''First Steps towards Open Science in Albania'', produced by Hasani, S., Stefanova, E., Georgiev, A., and Stefanov, K., sets national expectations for open science and open access in Albania, aligning them with international standards. Written in English, it frames openness as the default while balancing ethics, privacy, intellectual property, and security, following the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.” The resource emphasizes open access publishing through trusted repositories, Creative Commons licensing, persistent identifiers, and FAIR data principles supported by data management plans. Responsibilities for researchers, institutions, and funders are clearly defined, including rights retention, funding acknowledgment, and transparent rules for embargoes or exceptions. Infrastructure such as repositories, registries, and discovery systems supports compliance and visibility, while alignment with initiatives like Plan S and the European Open Science Cloud ensures interoperability. Equity, inclusion, and responsible openness are central, with safeguards for sensitive or Indigenous data and multilingual communication. Serving as both a benchmark and practical checklist, it offers actionable guidance to improve transparency, reproducibility, and equitable access, helping Albanian researchers and institutions comply with open research norms. +
