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Problems and Standards in Research Ethics: Scenarios and Situations Common in Medical Schools

Author(s): Terry Ann Krulwich

Plagiarism: Where should one draw the line between legitimate editorial advice and plagiarism?
Self-Deception: How does one avoid letting one's working hypothesis influence the research and interpretation of data gathered?
What Is Cheating?: What actions are considered cheating? What are the responsibilities of students and professors when they encounter it?
Who Owns the Record? Whose Project Is It?: How should records be kept, and what are the consequences of losing them? Is it ethical for researchers in the lab to read one another's records of an experiment?
Whose Work Is It?: How should one use research information obtained by someone else, and how does one give it credit when publishing the material?
How Do Projects Get Into Hopeless Difficulty, and what Should be Done?: What should one do when faced with long-term unsuccessful research? Should one keep going, or abandon it for a backup project? How should one deal with favoritism from a professor for a more successful student?
Distrust among Members of a Lab: What happens when there is conflict and discontent in the lab? How does one deal with bad attitudes, sloppiness, dishonesty in experiments, and distrust in fellow workers?
Conflicting Priorities and Life Goals among Members of a Lab: What does one do when the goals of the students do not coincide with the goals of their professors? Also, what should one do when there are prejudices between students and preceptors?
Expectations of Advisory Committees Expectations of Advisory Committees: There is a misunderstanding between students and their advisory committees due to different expectations of each other. How should this misunderstanding be resolved?
Who Decides When a Student Is Done?: How can a conflict between a professor and a graduate student over prolonged research be resolved? The student does not want to delay his dissertation, but the professor wants to pursue the research.

by Terry Ann Krulwich, Dean of Graduate School

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

Plagiarism

This scenario discusses issues of credit and plagiarism.
Avoiding Self-Deception in Science

A scenario about improving understanding of the mutual responsibilities of supervisors and trainees, authorship, data management and how to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings.
What is Cheating?

Scenario describing graduate students cheating in the classroom .
Who Owns the Record? Whose Project is it?

Scenairo that discusses proper use of data and record keeping policies in a lab.
Whose Work is it?

Scenairo discussing the issues of authorship, acknowledgement, student advising and mentoring.
How Do Projects Get Into Hopeless Difficulty and What Should be Done?

Scenairo discusses issues between postdoc students and technicians in a lab, including favoritism and professoral responsibility.
Distrust Among Members of a Lab

Scenario discusses issues of lab relationships, responsibilities of mentors, authorship and data integrity.
Conflicting Priorities and Life Goals Among Members of a Lab

This scenario discusses issues of graduate students' challenges in the lab, balancing goals of the students to goals of the lab as a whole, and professionalism.
Expectations about Advisory Committees

This scenario discusses the role of advisory committees and student's expectations.
Who Decides When a Student is Done?

This scenario discusses isses of publication, atmosphere in a lab, dissertation progress and the advisory committee.