The Power of Ethics and Standards When the Scholarly System Fails

Scholarly published work to understand world events is a potent force in learning to improve the human condition. However, which points or criteria are important in interpreting these events are often less than clear. Given the significant societal changing events of the past year that challenge human dignity and values (e.g., pandemic, storming of US Capitol, Black Lives Matter), Human Resource Development (HRD) or cognate field scholars have a responsibility to study these phenomena in ways that uphold the ethics and standards of academic research (Russ-Eft, 2018; Werner, 2016). Whether a concept study or probabilistic analysis, journal articles are academia’s venue, which serve as historical markers to further shape the identity of the discipline. A recent peer-reviewed paper regarding a World War II incident has become a wake-up call that challenges the academic integrity of peer-reviewed articles and journals. In response to this situation, we examine the relevance of this case to AHRD Standards on Ethics and illuminate how research integrity, ethics, and rigor are important and helpful for interpreting a major or series of world event.