7.6 When and How Should You Report Scientific Misconduct?

Have you ever heard the word whistleblowing? Wikipedia defines a whistleblower as a person who exposes secretive activity within an organization that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct. Simply put: Until now, we discussed how to maintain the standards of responsible research in your work. But what to do if you witness a possible breach of research integrity or ethic by somebody else, your fellow student or even some senior member of academic community? 

Case study

Watch the following video. Two colleagues from a small laboratory discuss a case of potential research misconduct. The principal investigator (person in charge of the research project, they refer to him as “PI”) probably edited the image of experimental results before publishing. Then post to discussion forum your responses to questions in Assignment.

Assignment

What would be your recommendation to young researcher? Provide arguments for your advice.

What would you do if you witness other student in your class cheating or plagiarizing in his or her thesis?