Beyond plagiarism: Ethical misconduct in scientific and technical publishing

Ethical misconduct among scholars’whether plagiarism, data fabrication, data misrepresentation, or other forms of dishonesty’is on the rise, and increasingly in the public spotlight. Marcel LaFollette describes the context in which misconduct takes place, contrasting the nature of the scientific community before and after World War II. In the 1980s, the federal government facilitates, funds, and scrutinizes scientific research far more extensively than ever before. Increased political concern, LaFollette argues, will have far-reaching implications for scientists and their publishers. Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette is assistant professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and visiting scholar, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. She is the former editor ofScience, Technology & Human Values and is currently writing a book on ethical misconduct in research communication. This article was prepared with support from the National Science Foundation under grant RII-8409904 “The Ethical Problems Raised by Fraud in Science and Engineering Publishing”.