Ethical Issues in Multiple-Authored and Mentor-Supervised Publications
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education & Practice
Volume 138, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper explores the ethical issues related to publication, authorship, and mentoring with the goal of better defining coauthorship standards and encouraging research ethics discussion and education within the academic civil engineering research community. Graduate students, junior and tenured faculty, technicians, administrators, and field practitioners in the civil engineering research community need to address the evolving ethical issues in multiple-authored and mentor-supervised publications. By using a five-step interrelated research methodology, the authors examine the current factors affecting the academic research environment and describe some of the unspoken but ethically questionable practices in the academic community. Most tangible rewards are on the basis of a faculty member’s or researcher’s publication record, and the increasing pressure to produce publications earlier and more often in the academic’s career exacerbate the problem of a lack of clarity in ethical standards for multiauthored publications. The timing and frequency standards associated with publications for tenure, promotion, and continuing research funding opportunities result in academics’ maximization of the number of research efforts taken to publication, with the number of authors per scientific publication steadily increasing. Further, as the number of authors has increased, the level of contribution of each coauthor to the research project and publication decreases. Data show that it is impossible to detect or assume equal-effort contributions by coauthors or their knowledge-base about the project design, findings, or implications. This paper proposes a threefold ethical framework for evaluating and analyzing the ethical norms for authorship status. It is the hoped that this thought-paper stirs the waters of this important issue to maintain the solidarity and integrity of engineering research activities and publications.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Alberts, B. (2003). “Harnessing science for a more rational world.” Speech given at the National Academy of Science’s 140th Annual Meeting, 〈http://www.nasonline.org/site/DocServer/speech2003〉 (Jun. 16, 2010).
Altman, L., and Melcher, L. (1983). “Fraud in science.” British Med. J., 286(6383), 2003–2006.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). (2007). “Publication ethical standards: Guidelines and procedures.” AIAA J., 45(8), 1794.
Anderrson, C. (1992). “Writer’s cramp.” Nature, 355(6356), 101.
Blanchard, K., and Peale, N. V. (1988). The power of ethical management, William Morrow, New York.
Bliss, D. Z. (2002). “Publishing with students—An uncontrolled variable.” Nursing Res., 51(6), 345–346.
Chanson, H. (2009). “Digital publishing, indexing and ethics: Implications in civil and hydraulic engineering and research.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 135(4), 117–121.
Daroff, R. B. (2005). “Report from the neurology scientific integrity advisor: Year 1.” Neurol., 64, 588–589.
Davidoff, F. (2000). “Who’s the author: Problems with biomedical authorship, and some possible solutions.” Sci. Editor, 23, 111–119.
Davis, A., and Hickey, A. (2009), “A quantitative assessment of requirements engineering publications–1963–2008.” Proc., 15th Int. Working Conf.: Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ), M. Glinz and P. Heymans, eds., Vol. 5512, 175–189.
Elliott, D., and Stern, J. (1997). Research ethics: A reader, University Press of New England, Lebanon, NH.
Fisher, B. S., Vander Ven, T. M., Cobane, C. T., Cullen, F. T., and Williams, N. (1998). “Trends in multiple-authored articles in criminology and criminal justice: A comparative analysis.” J. Crim. Justice Educ., 9(1), 19–38.
Garcia, A. M. (2004). “Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals: Lots of ethics, some new recommendations for manuscript preparation.” J. Epidemiol. Community Health, 58(9), 731.
Greenbaum, D. (2009). “Research fraud: Methods for dealing with an issue that negatively impacts society’s view of science.” Columbia Sci. Technol. Law Rev., 10, 61–129.
Goodman, N. W. (1995). “Pondering authorship—A symptom of a deeper malaise.” Anaesthesia, 50(6), 485–487.
Grieger, M. C. A. (2005). “Authorship: An ethical dilemma of science.” Sao Paulo Med. J., 123(5), 242–246.
Henze, M. (2005). “The ignoble art of cheating in scientific publications.” Water Res., 39(1), 1–2.
Horner, J., and Minifie, H. D. (2011). “Research ethics III: Publication practices and authorship, conflicts of interest, and research misconduct.” J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res., 54(1), S346–S362.
Hudson, J. (1996). “Trends in multiauthored papers in economics.” J. Econ. Perspect., 10(3), 153–158.
Hyman, M. (2001). “The coordinating author and the coauthor contract.” Mark. Educ., 20(2). 〈http://business.nmsu.edu/~mhyman/M610_Articles/Hyman_Marketing_Educator_coord_2001.html〉 (Dec. 30, 2011).
Jackson, C. I., and Prados, J. W. (1983). “Honor in science.” Am. Sci., 71, 462–464.
Jennings, M. (2006). The seven signs of ethical collapse, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
Jennings, M. (2011). Business ethics: Case studies and readings, Cengage, Cincinnati.
Jones, A. W. (1996). “Some thoughts and reflections on authorship.” Alcohol Alcohol., 31(1), 11–15.
Lederberg, J. (1993). “Communication as the root of scientific progress.” The Scientist, 7(3), 10–14.
Lock, S. (1995). “Lessons from the Pearce Affair: Handling scientific fraud.” British Med. J., 310(6994), 1547–1548.
Mavinic, D. (2006). “The ‘art’ of plagiarism.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 33(3), iii–vi.
Mayer, T., and Steneck, N. (2007). “Final report to ESF and ORI. First World Conference on research integrity: Fostering responsible research.” 〈http://www.icsu.org/5_abouticsu/PDF/WC_final_report.pdf〉 (Jun. 4, 2010).
Nash, L. (1981). “Twelve ethics questions for business-decision makers.” Harv. Bus. Rev., 59, 79–90.
National Institutes of Health (NIH). (2010). “Resources for researchers.”〈http://www.nih.gov/sigs/bioethics〉 (Jun. 16, 2010).
Nuremberg Code. (1949). “Trials of war criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10.” Vol. 2, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 181–182. 〈http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/guidelines/nuremberg.html〉 (Jun. 10, 2010).
Olivier, P. (2003). The student’s guide to research ethics, Open University Press, Philadelphia.
Pietroforte, R., and Aboulezz, M. (2005). “ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering: Review of the years 1985–2002.” J. Manage. Eng., 21(3), 125–130.
Pietroforte, R., and Stefani, T. (2004). “ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management: Review of the years 1983–2000.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 130(3), 440–448.
Posner, R. (2007). “In defense of plagiarism: No harm, no foul is what the law ought to be.” Forbes, Jan. 29, 2007, 32.
Redman, B. K., and Caplan, A. L. (2005). “Off with their heads: The need to criminalize some forms of scientific misconduct.” J. Law Med. Ethics, 33(2), 345.
Rennie, D., and Flanagin, A. (1994). “Authorship! Authorship! Guests, ghosts, grafters, and the two-sided coin.” JAMA, 271(6), 469–471.
Rennie, D., Yank, V., and Emanuel, L. (1997). “When authorship fails: A proposal to make contributors accountable.” JAMA, 278(7), 579–585.
Resnik, D. B. (2010). “What is ethics in research and why is it important?” National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences—National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC. 〈http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis.cfm〉 (Jun. 18, 2010).
Sahu D. R., and Abraham, P. (2000). “Authorship: Rules, rights, responsibilities, and recommendations.” J. Postgrad. Med.(, 46(3), 205–210.
Shamoo, A. E., and Dunigan, C. D. (2000). “Ethics in research.” Exp. Biol. Med., 224, 205–210.
Shamoo, A. E., and Resnik, D. B. (2009). Responsible conduct of research, Oxford University Press, New York.
Smith, R. (1997). “Authorship: Time for a paradigm shift?.” British Med. J., 314, 992.
Sovocool, B. (2005). “Using criminalization and due process to reduce scientific misconduct.” Am. J. Bioethics, 5(5), W1.
Stanley, R. J. (2005). “Authorship in the AJR.” Am. J. Roentgenol., 185(1), 1–2.
Strub, R. L., and Black, F. W. (1976). “Multiple authorship.” Lancet, 308(7994), 1090–1091.
Unger, K., and Couzin, J. (2006). “Cleaning up the paper trail.” Science, 312, 38–41.
Whitbeck, C. (1998). Ethics in engineering practice and research, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Wilson, D. (2009). “Medical schools quizzed on ghostwriting.” N.Y. Times, Nov. 18, 2009, B2. 〈http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404EFDA173AF93BA25752C1A96F9C8B63〉 (Jan. 7, 2010).
Wilson, J., and Kelling, G. (1982). “Broken windows: The police and neighborhood safety.” Atlantic Monthly, 249, 29–39.
Winstein, K. J. (2009). “Medical journal criticized over lack of disclosure on authors.” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 12, 2009, A9.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 23, 2010
Accepted: Jun 17, 2011
Published online: Jul 13, 2011
Published in print: Jan 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.