Ethics and integrity in publishing

As the competitive pressures on academic researchers escalate, so the temptation grows to ‘cut corners’ in order to boost one’s published output and career prospects. This chapter explains ‘the rules of the game’ with regard to ethics and integrity in research and publishing, and how these are conventionally interpreted by editors and other ‘gate-keepers’, offering specific advice to authors as to how to minimise the risk of having their research integrity called into question. It sets out the nature and extent of research misconduct, and the lesser misdemeanours of inappropriate or dubious behaviour, and provides examples of the commonest forms encountered by editors. It also reveals how journal editors, faced with mounting competitive pressures to enhance the standing of their journals, are not immune to the temptation to engage in various ruses in order to artificially inflate their journal impact factor (JIF). The chapter concludes by offering some simple guidelines for ensuring that the ethics and integrity of one’s research and publications are never called into question.