Irresponsible Conduct in Research
Irresponsible conduct in research also called scientific misconduct among scholars and academicians is a term covering various malicious and unethical behaviors and activities that researchers intentionally engage in during the research process. Scientific misconduct makes all academic data cultivated and procedures made unreliable and non-credible, and the contributions of other persons involved vain. The drivers of such unprofessional actions are often monetary considerations and personal motivation, and sometimes it is the lack of knowledge and expertise of the individual who committed them (Andorno, 2021). Usually, other scholars identify scientific misconduct through software anti-plagiarism and peer review procedures.
Conflict of Interest
The conflict of interest is a possibility of an element of bias in research inferences or professional judgment that deprives a significant part of objectivity. Several categories of conflicts of interest exist, the individual-level one is among them, and its driver can be both obvious and subtle external influences and features of the mindset, intellect, and mentality of one. Examples of these are funding or promotion received or promises of these before the start of the research process and overconfidence in one’s own knowledge and expertise.
An academic conflict of interest is a specific bias-creating situation during a peer review. It happens when an interested party, usually the creator of a particular academic paper, interferes with the verification process performed by the reviewer. An illustrative example would be a request to delay the publication of an article of one’s academic competitor or even a personal opponent to belittle their contributions to a particular scientific discipline or to get a financial benefit, such as a grant, first. There is also a conflict of commitment when the responsible person dedicates more effort to those scholarly duties that have emerged after those negotiated with the first employer. The conflict of conscience is another one, and it is a situation where personal political affiliations, a philosophical viewpoint, or the beliefs of a scientist affect their academic objectivity. An evangelist exploring the topic of abortion is one such instance.
Reference
Andorno, R. (2021). Why does scientific misconduct occur? H2020 Integrity. Web.