Performing research, producing results, recording conclusions and dissemination of these results to the society are some of the basic pillars and idea of academic institutions. In order to ensure high-quality scientific publications, and to ensure public trust in scientific conclusions, and that people are given credit for their contributions, there must be ethical standard not only for conduction of research across the discipline but also in association with their results recording in the form publications in reputed journals. The integrity of data, information and knowledge that emerges from research must be based on individual and collective adherence to core values of objectivity, honesty, openness, fairness, accountability and stewardship. This book serves the very basic purpose of creating a fundamental understanding of theories and practices concerned with research integrity and ethical norms among the readers. The book will provide handful insights to the problem of scientific misconduct, and academic integrity and suggests various solutions under the purview of national academic guidelines. Further, the book also discusses at what level with various software tools and techniques one can resolve or minimize such misconducts.
Guptnath Trivedi has obtained Bachelor degree in Mathematics and Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Banaras Hindu University. He is recipient of BHU-Gold Medal in his Master’s. He is currently associated with Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, as an Assistant Librarian (Faculty). He has more than 4 years of teaching, research and other academic experiences at UG and PG level. To his credit, several number of research papers, book chapters, op-eds, and institutional publications have been recorded which are indexed by international and national databases like SCOPUS, G-Scholar, etc. His area of research and expertise are, Information Science, Scientometrics, Science Communications, Science Policy, Open-Source Library Solutions and Behavioural Study. Besides his Library assignments, he has been teaching courses like Library and Information Services, Information and Communication Technologies, Management Information Systems (MIS), Research and Publication Ethics, etc. at PG level. He has conceptualized this book and prepared the initial draft.
Prof. (Dr.) Rakesh Mani Sharma is a very senior professional in agricultural librarianship of the country, is the first ever regular University Librarian of the Central Agricultural Universities of India. Prof. Sharma is an agricultural science graduate and BHU Gold Medalist in Masters, UGC NET qualified and Ph.D. from Utkal University, Bhubneshwar, is currently serving as University Librarian (faculty) at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University (RPCAU), Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar. Besides, University Librarian, he is also an Academic Council Member and Chairman of the University Publication Division, RPCAU. Prior to joining RPCAU in 2019, he had been with ICAR - Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Shimla where he earned professional, research and academic experiences of more than 30 years in various capacities. Dr. Sharma has published many research papers, books and conference proceedings of national and international repute. He had been actively associated with IGNOU where he has successfully guided more than 07 students for their Masters and M.Phil. Dissertations. He has also been an active member of many professional associations in Library & Information About the Authors v Science. He has life time membership of ILA, AALDI and IPA where he served two terms as General Secretary and one term as Joint Secretary of AALDI and regional Councillor of IPA. His multifaceted work performance in capacity of OIC (Assistant Director) Official Language at ICAR-CPRI, brought many regional and national “Rajbhasha Awards” to his credit by the Govt. of India. His experience, critical views and fruitful suggestion has helped a lot to pave the journey of writing this book.
RPE 1: Philosophy and Ethics ................................................................. 1
1.1 Introduction to Philosophy: Concepts and Definitions .................. 1
1.2 Nature and Scope of Philosophy ....................................................... 5
1.3 Branches of Philosophy...................................................................... 9
1.4 Ethics: Concepts and Definitions .................................................... 18
1.5 Understanding Moral Philosophy, Judgments & Reactions ........ 19
RPE 2: Scientific Conducts .................................................................... 23
2.1 Scientific and Research Ethics ......................................................... 23
2.2 Intellectual Honesty and Research Integrity .................................. 25
2.3 Scientific Misconducts: Falsification, Fabrication and Plagiarism ...............................29
2.4 Redundant Publications: Duplicate and Overlapping Publications, Salami Slicing ....................... 37
2.5 Selective Reporting and Misinterpretation of Data ....................... 41
RPE 3: Publication Ethics ....................................................................... 47
3.1 Publication Ethics: Concepts & Definitions & Significances ....... 47
3.2 Publication Standards and Guidelines: COPE, WAME................ 49
3.3 Conflict of Interest (CoI) or Competing Interest .............................. 54
3.4 Publication Misconduct: Concept, Types, Problems & Unethical Behaviour ........................... 57
3.5 Identification of Publication Misconduct, Complaints and Appeals, Examples from India and Abroad................................... 60
3.6 Predatory Publishers and Journals ................................................. 65
RPE 4: Open Access Publishing........................................................... 81
4.1 Open Access Publishing and Initiatives: History and Current Scenario of India & Abroad .......................... 81
4.2 Open Access Publishing Tools ......................................................108
4.3 Self-archiving Initiatives and Policies: SHERPA/RoMEO .........116
4.4 Identifying Predatory Publications: Software Tools and Techniques .............................119
4.5 Journal Finder and Suggester Tools: JANE, Elsevier Journal Finder, Springer Journal Suggester, etc. ...........................121
RPE 5: Coping with Plagiarism and Similarity Index ..................131
5.1 Indian Higher Education and Plagiarism in a Context ..............131
5.2 Handling Plagiarism: Role and Initiatives of UGC and Ministry of Education in India ......................................................132
5.3 Exploring and Countering Plagiarism: Use of Software Tools and Techniques...................137
RPE 6: Databases and Research Metrics .........................................149
6.1 Indexing Databases: Use, Importance & Examples .....................149
6.2 Citation Databases: Web of Science, Scopus, G-Scholar, etc..................150
6.3 Research Metrices: Author Level (h-index, g-index,
m-index,i-10 index, PlumX Metrix, Altmetrics) and
Journal Level Metrices (JIF, Cite Score, SNIP, SJR, IPP)................161
