Publication Ethics

• Data fabrication and falsification
• Plagiarism
• Multiple submissions
• Redundant ("salami") publication

Ethical standards for publication exist to ensure high-quality scientific publications, public trust in scientific findings, and that people receive credit for their ideas. Authors must avoid the practices below.

Practices to avoid

Data fabrication and falsification

• Fabrication: the researcher did not actually do the study, but made up the data.
• Falsification: the researcher did the study, but then changed some of the data.

Both practices make people distrust researchers, and a public that mistrusts research is less willing to fund it.

Plagiarism

Taking the ideas and work of others without giving them credit is unfair and dishonest. Copying even one sentence from someone else's manuscript, or from your own previously published work, without proper citation is plagiarism. Use your own words instead.

Multiple submissions

Do not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. It wastes the time of editors and peer reviewers, and it can damage the reputation of the journals if the work is published more than once.

Redundant ("salami") publication

Do not publish many very similar manuscripts based on the same study. It makes readers less likely to pay attention to your work.