Research Integrity & Scientific Misconduct Flashcards

Self-plagiarism in academic research is best defined as:

Answer: Reusing one's own previously published work without appropriate disclosure or attribution

Self-plagiarism occurs when researchers reuse substantial portions of their own prior publications without disclosing the overlap, misleading readers about the originality of the work.

According to ICMJE guidelines, all of the following criteria must be met to qualify as an author EXCEPT:

Answer: Funding acquisition as the primary grant holder for the study

ICMJE authorship requires intellectual contribution, drafting/revision, final approval, and accountability — funding acquisition alone does not qualify someone for authorship.

Ghost authorship refers to a situation where:

Answer: A person who made significant intellectual contributions is not listed as an author

Ghost authorship occurs when someone who made substantial contributions to a study is excluded from the author list, often to conceal industry involvement or conflicts of interest.

A retraction notice in a scientific journal is issued primarily to:

Answer: Formally withdraw a published article due to major errors, misconduct, or irreproducible results

Retraction formally removes a flawed or fraudulent article from the scientific record, signaling to readers that the work should not be relied upon.

P-hacking (also called data dredging) in research refers to:

Answer: Conducting multiple analyses or trying different statistical approaches until a significant result is found

P-hacking involves conducting numerous analyses or manipulating approaches until a p-value below the threshold is achieved, inflating the false-positive rate and undermining reproducibility.

Honorary (gift) authorship violates research integrity primarily because it:

Answer: Misrepresents who actually contributed to the research and undermines accountability

Honorary authorship falsely attributes credit and responsibility to individuals who did not meet authorship criteria, distorting the scientific record and undermining accountability.

When a researcher discovers a non-fraudulent error in their own published paper that does not affect the main conclusions, the appropriate response is to:

Answer: Publish a correction notice (erratum) through the journal

An erratum or correction notice is the appropriate mechanism for transparently disclosing and correcting honest errors in published work that do not constitute misconduct.