EASA-450 Scientific Communications, Spring 2003

Martha Davis - Chapter 12, Ethical and Legal Issues

1. Ethical Traps

• intentional, done with fully knowledge

• unintentional, done unconsciously or without paying too much attention

There are gray areas where one is unsure of the motive. Nevertheless, the end result is still the same and unintentional ethical slips can be just as serious as intentional ones.

(a) Intentional 

• changing data - modifying values to ensure a particular outcome

• ignoring data - especially if it does not fit a desired outcome

• manufacturing data - making up values that did not previously exist

• plagiarism - the extracting or quoting of information without acknowledging the source

• distorting the work of others

  - by misquoting (leaving out words or phrases)
  - by downgrading (being dismissive or sarcastic)
  - by excessive subjectivity

(b) Unintentional

• failure to be objective (e.g. not realizing that your beliefs are not shared)

• seeing only what you want to see

• misdirecting the reader subconsciously

• presenting only partial results

• omitting pertinent issues (the sin of omission rather than commission)

• ignorance of others' work

(c) Avoiding Problems

• respect your data - draw conclusions that are consistent with the data

• compare your results to others

• take responsibility for your work - be prepared to stand by it in the face of opposition

• respect confidentiality of your colleagues' work - don't make it known without permission

• don't publish the same thing twice (or more!)

• acknowledge your errors - if you know that you made an error, make sure you recognize it in an appropriate way

• be careful of unscrupulous colleagues

2. Legalities

(a) Copyright

• applies to papers, unpublished documents, software, and recordings

• does NOT apply to ideas, procedures, processes, concepts

• who owns them?

  - yourself (you have to apply)
  - a publisher (semi-automatic - done for you)
  - government (automatic for scientists working for most federal scientific agencies)
  

• when do you need to act?

  - profit
  - intellectual security
  - vanity

(b) Patents

• applies to inventions, not ideas

• must be officially registered

• need to demonstrate 3 attributes
  
  - novelty
  - not obvious
  - useful

• must not disclose publicly first!

• if you disclose it, you have a 1-year grace period to prove you first thought of it - difficult!

• keep meticulous records of your research

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