1. Scientific misconduct & plagiarism in medical research and writing

2. Facilitator
Surg.Lt.Cdr. Farooq Rathore FCPS (Rehab Medicine), OJT(USA)
HOD, Dept. of Rehabilitation Medicine, PNS Shifa, Karachi
Assistant Professor, Bahria University Medical & Dental College, Karachi

7. Principles not perspectives!

8. Sources of information
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Guidelines World Medical Association --Medical Ethics Manual Council of Science editors Committee on Publication Ethics Publishing & Research Ethics Section – Elsevier publishing campus

9. Outline of the workshop
Introductions ! Setting the ground rules PowerPoint presentations Hands on exercises Feedback form

10. Outline of the workshop

11. Participants Introduction
Name Job description ( Student, trainee, faculty) Institute Ever witnessed any unethical practice in medical research and writing (Yes/No) Have you attended a course, training session, workshop on ethical aspects of medical writing /research (Yes/No)

12. Ground rules !!
Mobiles on silent mode Attendance is mandatory Question are welcome –ANY TIME Disagreement is allowed Out of box solutions are encouraged Feedback proforma = workshop certificate

13. Topics to be covered
What is scientific misconduct ? Current situation – Local and Global Issues with Authorship ? Different types of scientific misconduct and Plagiarism How to avoid scientific misconduct Call for action !

14. Learning objectives
Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants should be able to:
Appreciate the importance of ethical principles in medical research & writing
Identify and summarize different forms of plagiarism
Describe Authorship criteria, Conflict of interest and disclosures
Use plagiarism detection soft wares

16. Steps in publishing research article
Data Collection
Data Analysis, interpretation and reporting
Manuscript writing
Authorship
Publication

17. Types of Misconduct
FFP

18. Misconduct Fabrication:
Making up data or results and recording or reporting them.1
Falsification:
Manipulating research materials, images, data, equipment, or processes.
Includes changing or omitting data or results in such a way that the research is not accurately represented. 1
1 Office of Research Integrity U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Definition of Research Misconduct. Available at: Accessed: June

19. Misconduct Plagiarism:1
Deliberately using another person’s work without permission, acknowledgment or without giving appropriate credit
1 Office of Research Integrity U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Definition of Research Misconduct. Available at: Accessed: June

20. Global perspectives in Scientific Misconduct

21. Romania
The general attitude of medical students was more a positive one as far as plagiarism is concerned, which is rather disturbing, taking into consideration the importance of having a good scientific conduct nowadays.
BADEA-VOICULESCU.Attitude of Romanian medicine students towards plagiarism. Rom J Morphol Embryol 2013, 54(3 Suppl):907–908

22. India
The attitude of the postgraduate students and faculty member reflect insufficient level of seriousness and awareness with which plagiarism is perceived.
Shimi et al. Assessment of the attitude towards Plagiarism among dental postgraduate students and faculty members in Bapuji Dental College and Hospital, Davangere – A cross sectional survey. (IOSR-JDMS

23. Iran
The residents in Iran (who will be specialists soon) are not sufficiently familiar with plagiarism, and gave fewer correct answers than the medical students.
Ghajarzadeh et al. Attitude towards plagiarism among Iranian medical students. Journal of medical ethics. doi: /medethics

24. Nigeria
Researchers in Nigeria perceive that scientific misconduct is commonplace in their institutions.
96.2% reported that one or more forms of scientific misconduct had occurred in their workplace.
Eighty one percent of researchers rated the severity of penalties for scientific misconduct in their work environment as low or very low
Patrick I Okonta, Theresa Rossouw. Misconduct in research: a descriptive survey of attitudes, perceptions and associated factors in a developing country. BMC Medical Ethics 2014, 15:25

25. Plagiarism has also been reported from
USA1
United Kingdom2
South Africa3
Finland4
Ashworth et al. Guilty in whose eyes? University students’ perceptions of cheating and plagiarism in academic work and assessment, Studies in Higher Education, :187–203.
White. Too many campuses want to sweep student plagiarism under the rug, Chronicle of Higher Education, : 44
Weeks. Plagiarism: think before pointing finger of blame, Times Higher Education Supplement,2001
15 May, p. 24.
Seppanen. Finns target master plagiarists, Times Higher Education Supplement, February, 11.

27. Is there plagiarism and unethical research practices in Pakistan?
How common are these unethical practices and behaviors? How to avoid them ? What we can do about it?

29. Pakistan
Problem is not uncommon and many cases are brought to the notice of editors of medical journals.
Surprisingly, the people involved in this matter are usually from a higher academic echelon
Gadit AAM. Plagiarism: How serious is this problem in Pakistan .J Pak Med Assoc : 618.

30. Pakistan
A low level of awareness about plagiarism and university plagiarism policies and processes amongst the students.
Many respondents did not understand what plagiarism is?
A significant number of students admitted that they have intentionally plagiarized written materials.
Ramzan et al. Awareness about plagiarism amongst university students in Pakistan. High Educ (2012) 64:73–84

31. Pakistan
The general attitudes of Pakistani medical faculty members and medical students as assessed by ATPQ were approving towards plagiarism.
Most of the respondents did not consider that they worked in a plagiarism free environment
Rathore FA, Waqas A, Zia AM, Mavrinac M, Farooq F. (2015) Exploring the attitudes of medical faculty members and students in Pakistan towards plagiarism: a cross sectional survey. PeerJ 3:e1031

32. Pakistan Survey of three medical institutes in Karachi, Pakistan
There is general lack of information about plagiarism, in students, as well as in faculty.
Lack of training in research methodology and referencing techniques rather than malice as a cause of plagiarism in most cases.
Shirazi B, Jafarey AM, Moazam F. Plagiarism and the medical fraternity: A study of knowledge and attitudes. J Pak Med Assoc (4):269–273.

34. Wikileaks !!!
A professor forces his Mphil student to publish research articles with his name as the first author or else he will not let her clear the defense of thesis.
A trainee shares his data with a doctor in good faith. The doctor fabricates his study for the Mphil program. He is a senior medical administrator today
A senior cardiologist comments “speakers should present their original work rather than showing the slides of material available on the internet”

35. Wikileaks !!!
A senior professor proudly claimed that he got atleast 40 papers in six years because all trainees/ young faculty working in his institute put his name as a co-author ?
Trainees at an institute are asked to submit abstracts in three days for an upcoming conference. Atleast two of them fabricate data overnight and submit
A trainee pays Rs 16,000 for a cooked up dissertation, which gets approved

41. http://amherststudent. amherst. edu/

51. Summary
Unethical practices in medical research and writing were (are being ) conducted Researchers, residents and faculty are not formally trained to avoid unethical practices There is no justification for any unethical behavior Unethical practices in writing and research get caught leading to major embarrassment and damage to academic career

53. Questions ?Comments? Additions?