How we live our lives, ethically, on a daily basis is a topic relevant to the start of the new year. Common ethical issues I find myself dealing with in my writing and business are:
- Authorship
- Plagiarism
- Conflict of Interest
- Presenting Yourself, Honestly
Before we can discuss these topics, it is important to clearly define each one. Let’s start with some definitions:
Authorship: an “author” is someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a study. http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html
Plagiarism: the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit (Office of Research Integrity,http://ori.hhs.gov/definition-misconduct)
Conflict of Interest: real or perceived conflict due to employment, consulting, or investment in entites with an interest in the outcome of the research(American Physiological Society, http://the-aps.org/mm/Publications/Ethical-Policies/Ethics-Posters)
Over the coming months I will explore each of these topics in more depth. If there are other topics you would like to see highlighted, please send me an email and let me know.
Being aware of and discussing common ethical issues is critical to following good ethical business and writing practices.