CRS Research Integrity & Scientific Misconduct 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Self-plagiarism in academic research is best defined as:
- Copying a colleague's unpublished manuscript without permission
- Reusing one's own previously published work without appropriate disclosure or attribution (Correct answer)
- Using automated text-generation tools to write a manuscript
- Paraphrasing published work without citing the original source
Correct 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.
Question 2: According to ICMJE guidelines, all of the following criteria must be met to qualify as an author EXCEPT:
- Substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition, or analysis of data
- Drafting or critically revising the work for important intellectual content
- Funding acquisition as the primary grant holder for the study (Correct answer)
- Accountability for all aspects of the work's accuracy and integrity
Correct 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.
Question 3: Ghost authorship refers to a situation where:
- An author requests anonymity during the peer review process
- A person who made significant intellectual contributions is not listed as an author (Correct answer)
- An author passes away before a paper is published
- A corresponding author submits a manuscript under a pseudonym
Correct 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.
Question 4: A retraction notice in a scientific journal is issued primarily to:
- Provide supplementary data that strengthens the original findings
- Formally withdraw a published article due to major errors, misconduct, or irreproducible results (Correct answer)
- Correct minor typographical or formatting errors without changing conclusions
- Update the paper's authorship list after initial publication
Correct 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.
Question 5: P-hacking (also called data dredging) in research refers to:
- Unauthorized access to a competitor's research database
- Falsifying p-values in the final statistical report submitted to a journal
- Conducting multiple analyses or trying different statistical approaches until a significant result is found (Correct answer)
- Reporting only non-significant results to counteract publication bias
Correct 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.
Question 6: Honorary (gift) authorship violates research integrity primarily because it:
- Violates copyright law by listing too many contributors on a single paper
- Misrepresents who actually contributed to the research and undermines accountability (Correct answer)
- Prevents junior researchers from receiving proper first-author credit
- Inflates citation counts beyond norms acceptable to journal editors
Correct 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.
Question 7: 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:
- Retract the entire paper and resubmit a corrected version to a different journal
- Publish a correction notice (erratum) through the journal (Correct answer)
- Make no public acknowledgment if the error is minor in scope
- Request that the journal quietly replace the PDF without a formal notice
Correct 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.
CRS Research Integrity & Scientific Misconduct 2
Self-plagiarism in academic research is best defined as: