What is scientific misconduct?

Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research (source Wikipedia)

What are the most common types of research misconduct?

The most common types of scientific misconduct are falsification, fabrication and plagiarism, where the most common of the three is plagiarism.

Falsification and fabrication are far less common but have a far greater impact on the research record than plagiarism. Unlike plagiarism, are falsification and fabrication involved in the introduction of incorrect, manipulated or fake data.

Science is incremental, so if the quality of science goes wrong, it will affect everything built on what’s been published before. For example if a paper with falsified data has been cited by 30 other papers this will mean that the 30 papers citing the paper with falsified data are also affected.

What happens if scientific misconduct has alleged or proven?

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism Betasciencepress Publishing (the publisher), in close collaboration with the editor(s), will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This will include the prompt publication of a correction statement or erratum or, in the most severe cases, the retraction of the article.

In many cases, papers can be retracted and investigations often lead to (academic) disciplinary action what is the most extreme cases might lead to the revoke of an academic degree and/or suspension and dismissal.

In cases where public money is involved, funding agencies can take researchers to court for misconduct, as they have effectively misappropriated public money.

How will Betasciencepress Publishing act on alleged or proven scientific misconduct?

We’ll strictly follow the advisory guidelines on scientific misconduct from COPE and will act accordingly these guidelines.