Ethics and Professional Conduct in Chemistry Flashcards
7 cards from real ACS practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Ethics and Professional Conduct in Chemistry flashcards as text
The ACS Code of Ethics requires chemists to avoid conflicts of interest. Which action best demonstrates compliance with this principle?
Answer: Disclosing financial relationships with companies when publishing research
Disclosing financial relationships ensures transparency and allows readers or reviewers to assess potential bias, which is the foundation of conflict-of-interest management in the ACS Code of Ethics.
According to ACS ethical guidelines, what is a chemist's primary obligation when they discover a significant error in their published research?
Answer: Promptly notify the journal editor and issue a correction or retraction
ACS guidelines mandate prompt disclosure of errors to maintain the integrity of the scientific record, requiring notification to the journal editor and issuance of a correction or retraction.
Which behavior violates the ACS principle of responsible communication of chemical information?
Answer: Selectively reporting only data that supports a hypothesis
Selectively reporting data that supports a hypothesis while suppressing contradictory data constitutes data manipulation, which violates ACS standards for honest and complete communication.
Under ACS ethical standards, when may a chemist submit the same manuscript to two journals simultaneously?
Answer: Simultaneous submission is never acceptable without explicit permission from both editors
ACS standards prohibit duplicate or simultaneous submission to multiple journals because it wastes peer-review resources and can lead to dual publication of the same work.
The ACS Code of Ethics states that chemists should advance the chemical sciences and contribute to the literature. Which action best fulfills this obligation?
Answer: Sharing research findings through peer-reviewed publications and professional presentations
Sharing findings through peer-reviewed publications and presentations advances collective scientific knowledge, which is central to the ACS obligation to contribute to the chemical literature.
A chemist discovers that a colleague has fabricated experimental data in a joint publication. According to ACS ethical guidelines, what is the most appropriate first step?
Answer: Report the misconduct to the institution's research integrity office
ACS guidelines recommend reporting suspected research misconduct to the appropriate institutional authority (research integrity office), which is empowered to investigate formally.
Which of the following constitutes plagiarism under ACS publication ethics?
Answer: Reproducing a figure from your own prior publication without disclosure
Reproducing your own previously published figure without disclosure is self-plagiarism, which violates ACS publication ethics because it misrepresents prior work as new material.