Ethical Considerations in the Publication of Scientific Articles

Abstract

At the origins of science, the only motivation in scientific research was simple curiosity, the desire to know more about something specific. Nowadays, the relationship between science and society has changed. Current research requires material and human resources that are very costly from an economic standpoint, and therefore depends on financing from public administration or private companies with very specific interests. In this context, scientists must compete for the resources to conduct research and publish the results as soon as possible to further their scientific reputation in the investigated subject matter, which is the only way to secure funding sources for future research. This pressure to publish has led some authors to fall into the trap of lowering the ethical quality of their research, which in some cases results in scientific fraud. In this respect, we must remember that the publication process is based on credibility, truth, authenticity, and scientific honesty. To ensure transparency in the publication of articles and fight against scientific fraud, the editors of various journals meet regularly and implement initiatives to achieve these purposes, such as the use of specific software programs to detect plagiarism or disclosure of conflict of interest by authors, reviewers and editors. The editors of the HEART group journals, of which Revista Espanola de Cardiologia forms part, have designed and introduced a documentwith some ethics guidelines regarding the publication of the findings of scientific research. With initiatives like this, the editors of scientific journals seek to standardize the criteria to identify cases of scientific fraud and to be pro-active. The most common ethical issues that the editors of Revista Espanola de Cardiologia have found in recent years are duplicate publications (especially the so-called ‘‘hidden’’ or ‘‘covert’’ publications, which are carried out without the knowledge of the journals’ editors and without cross-referencing the original document) and partial publications or salami slicing, in which a significant study is split into smaller sections and then published as separate articles, usually in different journals. The new editorial board of Revista Espanola de Cardiologiawants to convey to our readers our unequivocal commitment to the ethics guidelines developed by the HEART group. In the following paragraphs, we deal with some ethical issues raised in that document, such as integrity in research, criteria for authorship of scientific articles, and conflicts of interest, and, lastly, we provide a