Forsman B
Department of Medical Ethics, Lund University, Sweden.
Acta Oncol. 1999;38(1):107-10. doi: 10.1080/028418699431889.
Ethical problems of research misconduct can be viewed in many ways. The main issue at stake is the reliability of what is presented as scientific facts. If we cannot trust research findings, the consequences can be fatal for all affected parties. There are several actors in the context of research integrity and misconduct, especially the individual scientist and the scientific community. The honesty of scientists is important but this in itself is not a sufficient condition for research integrity. We need guidelines and rules. Researchers accused of misconduct must be guaranteed legal security. A closed definition of scientific misconduct seems to be the best one for protecting the legal security, but on the other hand, an open definition is better for the protection of science. There is a gap between ethics and law in the view of research misconduct. Some actions that are regarded as unethical are quite well within the law. In order to deal with real cases of alleged research misconduct, there must be a way of closing this gap.
研究不当行为的伦理问题可以从多种角度来看待。关键的主要问题是被当作科学事实呈现的内容的可靠性。如果我们不能信任研究结果，那么后果对所有受影响方来说可能是致命的。在研究诚信和不当行为的背景下有多个行为主体，尤其是个体科学家和科学界。科学家的诚实固然重要，但这本身并非研究诚信的充分条件。我们需要指导方针和规则。被指控有不当行为的研究人员必须得到法律保障。对科学不当行为进行封闭式定义似乎是保障法律安全的最佳方式，但另一方面，开放式定义对科学的保护更有利。从研究不当行为的角度看，伦理和法律之间存在差距。一些被视为不道德的行为在法律上却是完全允许的。为了处理所谓研究不当行为的实际案例，必须有一种弥合这一差距的方法。
