ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PUBLICATION CONTENT

1. Ethic

Definition

Ethic as defined by Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 8^th edition is, moral principles that control or influence a person’s behaviour. Ethical is connected with beliefs and principles about what is right and wrong.

Offline Advanced Dictionary explains ethic as the principles of right and wrong that govern morality and are accepted by an individual or a social group.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATON IN RESEARCH PUBLICATION

2. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PUBLICATION CONTENT

1.     Conflicts of Interest – This exists when an author (or the author’s institution) review, or edit or has financial or personal relationships that inappropriately influence his or her actions. Financial relationship undermines the objectivity and integrity of the journal, the authors, and the research itself. When authors submit a manuscript, whether a research article, editorial or a review, they are responsible for disclosing all financial and personal relationship that might bias their work. To prevent ambiguity, authors must declare whether potential conflicts do or do not exist.

2.     Privacy and Confidentiality of study participants – Patients have right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. That is, their particulars should not be published in written descriptions without the patient’s or parents consent, unless it is for scientific purposes.

3.     Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research – When reporting experiments on human and animal subjects, authors must state in the methodology section of their article that the procedure followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the relevant committee on human and animal care and protection.

4.     Authorship – Only those individual with legitimate claims to authorship should be listed as authors on the paper. Especially, those who made significant contributions to conception, design and production of the work.

3. THEFT OF INTELLETUAL PROPERTY

When you are writing something of your own, if you incorporate borrowed words without any acknowledgement, this is plagiarism. If you then publish what you write, whether conventionally or on the internet, it becomes theft of intellectual property and an infringement of copyright laws.

Copyright is the legal right an individual or an organisation has for being a sole publisher of his or its work without any other person or parties doing so. Such legal right is given to that individual or organisation after meeting with the whole production/publication requirements and consequently being licenced.

On the other hand, copyright infringement means that the right afforded to the copyright holder, such as the exclusive use of a work for a set period of time, are breached by a third party. When individual or companies register for copyright protection, they do so to protect their works and to make money from their works. Other parties may be granted permission to use those works through licensing arrangement or they may purchase the work from the copyright holders.

Other Exception to Copyright that allow Limited Use of Copyright Works without Permission of Copyright Owner –

1.     Limited use of works may be possible for non-commercial research and private study.

2.     Criticism and review

3.     Teaching in schools and other educational establishments.