Editorial: Call for action in Brazil: dealing with misconduct in research and scientific publication

Abstract

Cases of misconduct in research and scientific publications have populated the headings of both national and international news lately. There are no borders regarding incidence of misconduct in developed, developing or underdeveloped parts of the world, and all areas of knowledge are affected. This universal problem has become more evident and frequent with the increasing pressure on scholars and students to produce more results and to publish more papers in order to get academic titles and positions, job promotion, and scientific recognition in competitive research. In Brazil, it might be necessary to re-evaluate if the current procedures to assess research productivity based on quantification of publications are not creating incentives for unacceptable practices such as plagiarism, redundant publication, or guest authorship. However, the fundamental question now is how to prevent and handle misconduct cases in the scenario of productivity assessment using absolute quantitative indicators, and concurrently to promote good practices in research and publication ethics. Of course the basic action relates to continuing education of all the scientific community, particularly the formation of new investigators inside the graduate programs. However, a multiple taskforce is required as a single remedy certainly does not exist. (...)