Scientific ethics and publishing conduct

Abstract

The publishing conduct of scientists is increasingly becoming the object of science-based ethical considerations. Studies have shown that questionable publishing conduct is not a rare phenomenon in this area. National and international scientific organisations are making recommendations about appropriate scientific publishing conduct and, in doing so, are referring to universal ethical principles. A number of science-related ethical norms, for example the prohibition to fabricate or manipulate data, can be justified for all sciences by the goal of knowledge and common epistemological assumptions. On the other hand, other science-related ethical norms, such as rules governing the assignment of authorship and the prohibition of plagiarism, can be justified by means of a science-specific incentive mechanism, which was only explicitly analysed for the first time in detail by Merton (The sociology of science. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 286–324, 1957/1973): the attainment of recognition in the scientific community through published original articles on scientific progress. Particularly in conjunction with forms of remuneration based on this, this incentive mechanism leads to the temptation to make one’s own contribution to the development of science greater than is actually justified.