To Tell or Not to Tell? The Ethical Dilemma of the Would-Be Whistleblower

Abstract

Despite the growing emphasis placed on the responsible conduct of research, little attention has been devoted to the question of what an individual should do upon discovering research misconduct. This article takes seriously the dilemma of a would-be whistleblower. It identifies ethical considerations that can be taken into account in moral decision-making about reporting research misconduct. It also offers rough guidelines about the moral significance of each consideration in the decision-making process based on the facts of the case in question. The article, therefore, offers tools for a would-be whistleblower to use to arrive at a defensible resolution to a difficult dilemma.

Keywords:

• ethical decision-making
• misconduct
• reporting
• whistleblowing

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank David Resnik and three anonymous reviewers for incredibly helpful comments and suggestions.