Collegial Exchange and Exploitation

Description

A scenario meant to stimulate discussion about ways of responding to a suggestion from a researcher who has a reputation of freely taking others' ideas.

Body

You have been asked to give a talk at another university on your view of how your sub-area will evolve in the next ten years. After the talk one of the faculty members suggests that you write up some of your ideas in more detail and he will help find funding for them. You do not like to think ill of people, but you have some reason to think this person borrows too freely from others.

What would be a prudent way of responding that would also keep open channels for future collegial exchange?

Notes

Caroline Whitbeck introduced methods and modules for discussing numerous issues in responsible conduct of research at a Sigma Xi Forum in 2000. Partial funding for the development of this material came from an NIH grant.

You can find the entire sequence on the OEC at Scenarios for Ethics Modules in the Responsible Conduct of Research. Some information in these historical modules may be out-of-date; for instance, there may be a new edition of the professional society's code that is referred to in an item. If you have suggestions for updates, please contact the OEC.

Citation
Caroline Whitbeck. . Collegial Exchange and Exploitation. Online Ethics Center. DOI:https://doi.org/10.18130/0kxw-g682. https://onlineethics.org/cases/scenarios-ethics-modules-responsible-conduct-research/collegial-exchange-and-exploitation.