Adil E. Shamoo MedicReS World Congress 2015

Integrity of Authorship in the Age of Collaborative Research

Presentation to:

5th World Congress on Good Medical Research

October 19-25, 2015

By

Adil E. Shamoo, Ph.D., CIPUniversity of Maryland School of Medicine

108 N. Greene StreetBaltimore, MD 21201Tel# 410-706-3327Cell# 301-538-2599

E-mail: [email protected]/03/23

mailto:[email protected]

Case Study

Authorship/Plagiarism

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From: Fisher and Martin, 2014, The Challenges for scientists in Avoiding Plagiarism,

Accountability in Research, 21(6), 353-365.Original Text: What is indicated here is an opposition that is fundamental in biography texts: that there is an inside and an outside to a person, that these are separate, but that one may be understood to have a crucial influence on the other. The opening to Biography concentrates almost obsessively on Beyonce’s clothes because it is her clothes that allow us insight into hercharacter. Adams, Mary: Knowles, Biography, 2nd ed. New York Press. 2008

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FrFrom: Fisher and Martin, 2014, The Challenges for scientists in Avoiding Plagiarism, Accountability in Research, 21(6), 353-365.

Original Text:. The opening to Biography concentrates almost obsessively on Beyonce’s clothes because it is her clothes that

allow us insight into her character.

Version # 1•One can see the opening to Biography concentrates almost obsessively on Beyoncé’s clothes because it is her clothes that allow us insight into her character.•References•B. Knowles, Biography, 2nd ed. New York Press. 2008



allow us insight into her character. • Version # 2:• Biography texts give us insight into

characters through their appearance. The opening paragraph of Biography, for example, concentrates on the clothes worn by Beyoncé (1).

•

• References• 1. B. Knowles, Biography, 2nd ed. New York

Press. 2008



allow us insight into her character.

Version # 3

Biographies depend on an opposition between the interior and exterior person, as we can see by glancing at the first paragraph of a biography.



allow us insight into her character. Version # 4

Knowles argues that biography depends on an opposition between the interior and exterior person, and she demonstrates that point in Biography (1).

References1. B. Knowles, Biography, 2nd ed. New

York Press. 2008

Plagiarism in China In 1997, two cases of wholesale plagiarism NSFC investigated 542 allegations of

misconduct and found:40 % falsification

34% plagiarism

7% data fabrication or theft

19 % other misconducts(Zeng and Resnik, 2010, Developing World Bioethics, 10:1471-8847 online)


Misconduct in Germany

• German defense minister resigns in PhD plagiarism March 1, 2011,

• German Education minister Annette Schavan quits over 'plagiarism‘Feb 9, 2013

• Both Stripped of their doctorate and their jobs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21395102 05/03/23 Adil E. Shamoo, Ph.D. 13



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21395102

Plagiarism Allegations for Romanian Minister (May 16, 2012) and Prime Minister (June 20,

2012)

• Ion Mang – Research Minister• Prime Minister Victor Ponta –

Doctoral thesis• Mang is a Computer scientist at the

University of Oradea in Romania.• One paper is nearly identical copy of

a manuscript by Eli Biham.• http://www.nature.com/news/plagiarism-charge-for-romanian-minister-1.10646

• http://www.nature.com/news/romanian-prime-minister-accused-of-plagiarism-1.10845


http://www.nature.com/news/plagiarism-charge-for-romanian-minister-1.10646

http://www.nature.com/news/romanian-prime-minister-accused-of-plagiarism-1.10845

International Students in US and Plagiarism

(Bamford and Sergiou, 2005, Investigations in university teaching and learning, 2(2):17-22)

In a survey of 35 students from 17 countries: 51% intentional plagiarism (18/35) 45.7% tempted to plagiarize (16/35) 87.5% West Africans copied from books (7/8) 43% copied from books but majority heard of plagiarism before (3/7)


• A Professor’s campaign against plagiarism

• ( Brien, K. M., 2014. The Baltimore Sun, May 4, p. 25.Washington College in Chestertown, Md.)

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Status of Authorship____________________________

• Confusion

• University vs. Industry

• Role of Principle Investigator (PI)

Adil E. Shamoo, Ph.D.

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Contributions to Authorship____________________________

• Spectrum of Contributions

• Authenticity of Contribution


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Types of Misconduct in Authorship

• Plagiarism• Ghost writing/authorship• Honorary authorship• Guest authorship

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Accountability and Authorship

• How much coupling• Multiple authorship and

accountability (How to determine who is responsible to what)• Dilution and vagueness• Transparency

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Current Models:Order of Authorship

• Relative importance and contribution

• Alphabetical order (in math, computer science, economic and management)

• Last author• Contribution model

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Contributor Model• Transparency• Challenges intellectual honesty• Complex

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The Patent Model

• Discrepancy in authorship versus inventorship.

• “Each person named on a patent must have contributed to the conception step in the invention (as defined by the claims) (Lissoni et al, 2013, p. 52).

• Dishonest inclusion or exclusion of a contributor or any false statement could jeopardize the patent.

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Giving Credit to others

• Academic chemists-given a scenario on collaboration with students

• Survey 600 respondent/3990 (14%)• Obtained Ph.D. in 1940s – 1960s nearly

all will give credit to students• Obtained Ph.D. in 1980s, overwhelming

majority will give only an acknowledgment (Seeman and House, 2010, Accountability in Research, 17:146-169)

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Student-Preceptor Authorship_______________________

•Sensitive relationship•Power balance•APA Code of Ethics•In Nursing, faculty may not be a co-author•Preceptor desired to be a co-author


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Guidelines on Authorship____________________“All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship. The order of authorship should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content.”The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) published “Uniform Requirements for Manuscript’s submitted to Biomedical Journals” published in major journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and British Medical Journal (ICMJE, 1962; Uniform Requirement…….., Revised (1991).


(International Committee of Medical Journal Editors 2013, Authorship Criteria).

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND

Final approval of the version to be published; AND

Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. [???]

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Adequacy of the ICMJE Guidelines__________________________________

•Logic of contribution•Too broad•No mechanism of enforcement•Best system – open discussion prior-----.


Guidelines for First Author (Shamoo & Resnik, 2003)

_____________________________________

• Accept accountability• First author must participate in:

a. Conception or design or analysis and interpretation; b. Intellectual content; and Final approval of the published version

Adil E. Shamoo, Ph.D.05/03/23

Co-author must participate in two or more:

(Shamoo & Resnik, 2003)

a. Conception or design, or analysis and interpretation;

b. Drafting or editing portion(s) or revision of the article; and

c. Intellectual input to the proposal for funding.

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Additional Guidelines for Authorship(Shamoo & Resnik, 2003)

• Order of authorship commensurate to contributions

• Graduate student’s thesis should have the student’s name as first author

• State clearly each contribution (if possible)

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Outsourcing Writings

• Ghost-authorship?• Hiring a professional writer for:– Editing– Re-writing– Grammar– Foreign-born

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Transparency in Using professional writers

• Can be included as authors if the authorship criteria is modified.

• Contributor model.• Reduce poor written papers.• Reduces plagiarism.• Can be supportive of ethical behavior(Hamilton et al, 2015, Accountability in Research)

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Factors Undermining Collaboration

and authorship__• Selfishness• Incompetence• Negligence• Unfairness• Conflict of Interest


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Conclusions• Plagiarism is prevalent.• Lack of specificity and clarity of

guidelines.• Help in writing prevalent in industry.• Patent model – difficult to do.• Contributor model can help – just be

honest.And……

The End Questions?

German defence minister resigns in PhD plagiarism March 1, 2011

• “The University of Bayreuth stripped [Karl-Theodor zu] Guttenberg of his doctorate after he admitted substantially copying (inadvertently, he said) from other sources.”

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism )




German Education minister Annette Schavan

quits over 'plagiarism‘Feb 9, 2013

German Education Minister Annette Schavan has resigned after a university stripped her of her doctorate for plagiarism.

Duesseldorf's Heinrich Heine University voted last Tuesday to remove her doctorate following a review.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-2139510205/03/23 Adil E. Shamoo, Ph.D. 38

German defence minister resigns in PhD plagiarism March 1, 2011

• “The University of Bayreuth stripped [Karl-Theodor zu] Guttenberg of his doctorate after he admitted substantially copying (inadvertently, he said) from other sources.”

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism )




German Education minister Annette Schavan

quits over 'plagiarism‘Feb 9, 2013

German Education Minister Annette Schavan has resigned after a university stripped her of her doctorate for plagiarism.

Duesseldorf's Heinrich Heine University voted last Tuesday to remove her doctorate following a review.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-2139510205/03/23 Adil E. Shamoo, Ph.D. 40

Ways of Collaboration_______________________

• Sharing Data• Sharing

Databases• Ideas• Equipment• Computers• Methods

• Reagents• Cell lines• Research Space• Personnel

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Types of Plagiarism(LaFollette, 1992)

_____________________________• Rephrasing of an original idea as one’s

own original idea without attribution• Lack of acknowledgement of previous

work, Garfield, “citation amnesia”• Honorary and undeserved authorship

is a form of plagiarism• Inflating publication lists, dates, and

type of publications• Using privileged information

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Multiple Authorship

From 1 author to hundreds and from multiple countries


Collaboration Requires_______________________

• Cooperation• Trust• Collegiality (Respect for Person)• Fairness• Accountability


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A Professor’s campaign against plagiarism

( Brien, K. M., 2014. The Baltimore Sun, May 4, p. 25.Washington College in Chestertown, Md.)

23 student papers.Discovered 2 blatant plagiarism.Ultimatum to student to come

forward or else.12 students came forward.5 were blatant plagiarism + 2

technically plagiarism.

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Adil E. Shamoo MedicReS World Congress 2015

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