Today’s Plan Professional Communication in Computer Science Misconduct in science. Responsible Conduct in Science II (Case story by M. Nielsen.) Conflict of interest. (Case story by M. Nielsen.) Jiri Srba Publication, openness and allocation of credit. (Case story from “On Being a Scientist”.) Useful sources: On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research http://books.nap.edu/readingroom/books/obas/index.html http://www.onlineethics.org Lecturer: Jiri Srba, 1.2.32, srba@cs.aau.dk 1 / 17 2 / 17 Case A: Misconduct Case A: Misconduct (cont.) Mark, a PhD student, is just about to finish his thesis. He has already obtained many good results published at conferences and in journals. According to his supervisor, professor P, Mark’s thesis will be one of the very best ever submitted to the university. On the day of Mark’s PhD defense, one of the committee Mark has already obtained a post-doc position at one of the members, professor Q, informs the rest of the committee, that he world leading university, and the contract forces him to get his has become aware of the copying. PhD degree within a certain deadline. However, one of the Also, Q observes that a manuscript is listed in Mark’s thesis as requirements of the university is that the thesis on top of the ”submitted for publication”, but the material is not presented in technical presentation of individual results should include a section the thesis. When confronted with this, Mark admits that at the of 20-30 pages, motivating the problems addressed, relating results time of submission of the thesis, that paper was not quite finished, to state of the art, etc. Mark doesn’t think much of this and he but that a version has since then been submitted to an quickly produces a section as required. In the process, he international conference. occasionally copies sections word-by-word from a few books and papers (totaling some 2 pages), phrasing Mark’s views perfectly. Mark’s supervisor professor P does not observe the copying, the thesis is submitted, and an evaluation committee works on the thesis for a period of three months. 3 / 17 4 / 17 Case A: Questions Issues about Plagiarism Where is the limit? Is one “borrowed” sentence ok, or should it be acknowledged? What about copying your own paragraphs from earlier papers? 1 Do you see any cases of irresponsible conduct? How to give proper credit? Is it enough to write: 2 If so, what would have been the appropriate responsible “Bla, bla, bla (for more see [5]).” if “Bla, bla, bla.” is verbatim taken out of [5]? conduct? 3 What actions should be taken in the present situation, if any? Scientists who routinely fail to cite/acknowledge the work of others may find themselves excluded from the fellowship. Some people succeed in science despite their reputations. Many more succeed at least in part because of their reputations. 5 / 17 6 / 17
Case B: Conflict of Interest Case B: Conflict of Interest (cont.) The research parts of the studies of PhD students John and Jim fall within a major project under the leadership of their supervisor, professor P. The project is sponsored by the university and the national research council. Under the supervision of P, John and Jim One day professor P tells John the exciting news that they have have designed a special purpose programming language, SPPL, and been o ff ered a contract with a di ff erent company, which will the three of them have published a few papers together on this. sponsor a redesign and a prototype implementation of SPPL. John also has a small job as a consultant for a local private It is very important for the university to enter such contracts computer company ComCom, and during private conversations, with industry, and P is very happy with this development. Part of John has informed them about SPPL. ComCom has shown the contract is that the sponsor will get all rights for any future interest, and indicated the possibility of investing in commercial exploitation. commercialising SPPL, entering a contract with John after his graduation. John has informally formed a group of colleagues at ComCom in order to discuss ways of implementing SPPL. John has informed Jim about this, and suggested that Jim also considers joining this ComCom project after graduation. 7 / 17 8 / 17 Case B: Questions Issues about Conflict of Interest Sometimes values conflict and particular circumstances can compromise—or appear to compromise—professional judgments. What if you have—or might appear to have—a conflict of interest? 1 Do you see any cases of irresponsible conduct? 2 If so, what would have been the appropriate responsible Many institutions have policies and procedures for managing a conduct? conflict of interest. Find out what they are. 3 What actions should be taken in the present situation, if any? Always openly, fully and as soon as possible disclose any conflict of interest you might have. Example: You are asked to review an article by an editor and you are in doubt if you have a conflict of interest. Possible Solution: Disclose the conflict to the editor and let him decide what action is necessary. 9 / 17 10 / 17 PC Policy of the Conference ATVA Case C: Publication, Openness and Allocation of Credit You are considered to have a conflict of interest on a paper that Ben, a PhD student, had been working on a research project that has an author or co-author in any of the following categories: involved an important new experimental technique. For a national meeting, Ben wrote an abstract and gave a brief presentation. yourself, After his presentation, he was surprised and pleased when Dr. your past and current graduate students (for at least 10 years Freeman, a leading researcher from another university, engaged after that, it’s up to you to decide conflict of interest or not), him in an conversation. Dr. Freeman asked Ben about the new your graduate advisors, technique, and Ben described it fully. Ben’s advisor often members of your research group within the last 5 years, encouraged Ben not to keep secrets from others, and Ben was flattered that Dr. Freeman would be so interested in his work. a co-author of a paper within the last 5 years, Six months later Ben was leafing through a conference an employee of your immediate organization (academic proceeding when he noticed an article by Dr. Freeman. The article department, research lab unit, etc.) within the last 5 years, described an experiment that clearly depended on the technique someone with whom you have had a significant funding or that Ben had developed. He didn’t mind; in fact, he was again financial relationship, such as common projects, within the somewhat flattered that his technique had so strongly influenced last 5 years, or Dr. Freeman’s work. But when he turned to the citations, a member of your family or anyone you consider a close expecting to see a reference to his abstract or presentation, his personal friend. name was nowhere to be found. 11 / 17 12 / 17
Case C: Questions Issues about Publication and Openness Science is not an individual experience. It is shared knowledge based on some common understanding. 1 Does Ben have any way of receiving credit for his work? Once results are published, they can be freely used (and cited) 2 Should he contact Dr. Freeman in an e ff ort to have his work by other researchers to extend knowledge. Before that, recognized? researchers using these results are obliged to explicitly 3 Is Ben’s advisor mistaken in encouraging his students to be so recognize the discoverer. open about their work? If you are open, you will profit from it, at least in the long term. 13 / 17 14 / 17 Deliverable 5 (discussion in groups, individual writing) Deliverable 6 (individual) Select and read one paper of your interest from the Write your answers on the questions in cases A, B and C recommended reading of blocks 1 to 5. (The paper by Ian covered during the lecture (see the lecture slides). Parberry from block 3 cannot be selected.) Did your opinion on some of the ethical issues changed after Write a one paragraph summary of the content of the paper. you discussed the cases in the groups/classroom? Comment Why did you choose this paper and what was the most briefly on how if your answer to this question was positive. important thing that you can perhaps use in you future In the report write the names of all students participating at professional career? the group discussion. What topic(s) covered during the course did you find most interesting? 15 / 17 16 / 17 Last Slide Deadline for handing in the hardcopy of your journal to the semester secretary: Monday March 5th at 12:00 Last session for DAT4/IS moved to the end of the semester — peer-review of you articles. If you need some advice, help or just would like to chat, do not be afraid to visit me. And ... do not be afraid of science. “Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion?” – Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925) English physicist. 17 / 17
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