What do graduate students consider ethical research conduct? It depends on their adviser, says a new report from the Council of Graduate Schools.
According to the report, which is being released today, graduate students overly rely on their advisers, rather than university resources, for guidance on thorny issues such as spotting self-plagiarism, identifying research misconduct, or understanding conflicts of interest.
The findings come three years after the National Science Foundation said that it's up to universities to make sure researchers receive ethics training required by the federal government.
Graduate students who were surveyed as part of the council's Project for Scholarly Integrity felt they had a good grasp of research ethics, said Daniel Denecke, associate vice president for programs and best practices at the Council of Graduate Schools. But "when we really drill down," he said, "we see a real need on the part of students to know how to handle perceived misconduct."
The report, "Research and Scholarly Integrity in Graduate Education: A Comprehensive Approach," outlines the findings from the project, which began in 2008 and is financed by the federal Office of Research Integrity.
The entire story is here.
