Ethical Considerations in Geographic Research: What Especially Graduate Students Need to Know

Abstract

The topic of research ethics is assuming an increasingly more central role when preparing research proposals, with Institutional Review Boards being instructed to oversee more and more research activities. Graduate students, especially, should be educated about ethical and unethical research practices, for they will be taking over the research enterprise in the not-too-distant future. An ethics benchmark is outlined, and numerous research examples involving the themes of plagiarism, deception, fraud, confidentiality, and informed consent are discussed here. This narrative emphasizes that the canons of good scholarship require research and data collection for research to be conducted in an ethical fashion.

Notes

Nots

1. An article about a heart treatment was retracted because one of its authors had forged the signatures of his listed co-authors on documents claiming that they had reviewed both the data used and the submitted manuscript.

2. Levitsky, once informed about Demas’ proposed doctoral research, repeatedly requested to become a member of her supervisory committee. Once a committee member, he allegedly began speaking of her project publicly in terms that indicated he was its originator.