Editorial

Integritty the look

ked-for inggredient in
n publicattions
In uniiversities and
d research in
nstitutes worrldwide todayy, the
publisshing of papeers carries im
mmense weight for researrchers
as weell as administrators as it figures hiighly in their key
e and
perforrmance indexx for the yearr. While it is commendabl
c
excellent for the progress of science that the publishing of
paperrs is encouragged, it can traanslate into an obsession; when
it is tieed to monetaary rewards, then
t
certainlyy dangers lurkk.
In reccent times vaarious publiccation crimess such as outright
fraud,, irreproducib
ble results, data
d
and imaage manufaccture,
plagiaarism,

forceed

and

g
ghost

authorship,

finaancial

mismaanagement and
a concealed interests in
nvolving publlished
paperrs have emerged. Some have even beeen reported in
i the
popular media, forr instance, Drr. Eric Poehlm
mans paper on
o the
safetyy

of

humaan

hormonee

replacemeent

therapyy

for

menopausal women and Dr Richard Herrnsteein and Dr Charles

C
Murrrays work on
o the association
between IQ (Intelligen
nce Quotientt) and race. Such
S
areas of
o research are significantt because of their
bearing on human life, and therefo
ore, the integrity, credibilitty and authen
nticity of the findings wou
uld be
eagerly an
nticipated and closely follo
owed.
Indeed, who
w can forge
et the rise and
d fall of the fo
ormer nation
nal hero of the Republic off Korea, Dr. Hwang
H
Woo Suk,, who used im
mage manipu
ulation softwaare to claim that
t
he had achieved
a
elevven cloned human
cell lines whereas in faact he had only succeeded in getting one?
o
On the more mundaane level, witth the
advent off the Internet and computeer software, plagiarism seeems to easilyy rear its ugly head today. It is a
simple maatter today to
t cut and paaste informattion and dataa available on
n the Net and
d claim it as ones
own. Thiss is certainly seen
s
more an
nd more not only
o in studen
nts course asssignments but also in scieentific
publicatio
ons found eve
en in reputab
ble journals. Plagiarism, even
e
self plaggiarism, whetther intention
nal or
accidental, is unaccep
ptable, and fortunately,
f
t
there
are several software currently available such as
TURNITIN
N which allow for the tracking of acciden
ntal plagiarism
m.
Other pub
blication crim
mes include multiple
m
submissions of thee same manusscript to more than one jo
ournal
at any one time wheth
her with the same
s
or diffeerent titles. Th
his is especially so if the same manuscript is
accepted by more th
han one jourrnal and the corresponding author had not inforrmed the jou
urnals
concerned
d of the matter. Using the same data set to write two or moree papers is co
onsidered mu
ultiple
publicatio
on even though the text of
o these papeers may differr. In the case of the samee data having been
published
d as an extend
ded abstract or a full papeer in conference proceediings, this factt must be revvealed
1

to the editor of the journal to which the paper has been submitted. This is because different journals
may have different policies on this matter.
Another important issue is authorship. All authors of a paper are responsible for the contents of the
paper. This is important as careers may be ruined if the paper is discovered to be problematic in the
future. The suggested authorship guideline is that the author mentioned first is the one who did most of
the work and wrote most of the paper. The second is the one who supervised the activity of the first,
planning the study and helping to write the paper. Next would be others who had made intellectual
contributions to the paper in order of degree of contribution. However, it is now often the case that the
most prominent researcher is listed last as a token of respect and esteem. Anyone on the authorship list
can be the corresponding author but this person is responsible for certifying to the journal editor that
the paper is based on authentic work and that all the living coauthors had agreed to its submission to
the journal for publication.
Forced and ghost authorship should be avoided. Forced authorship ocurs when a person in authority
insists that he/she be listed as an author even though he/she did not contribute to the work in question.
Ghost authorship is when a prominent researcher agrees to be the author of a paper which he/she did
not write to lend an air of authenticity to the paper.
In our effort to curb the occurrence of publication crimes in our three journals, we have introduced
Pertanikas Code of Ethics effective 15 June 2010. All authors, editors and reviewers are requested to be
familiar with and to comply with these guidelines.

TAN SOON GUAN, PhD

Professor of Genetics
Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 Serdang
Malaysia
sgtan@biotech.upm.edu.my
June 20, 2011

TAN SOON GUAN is a Malaysian of Baba Chinese ancestry born in Malacca, Malaysia in 1947. He is currently Professor of Genetics at Universiti
Putra Malaysia. Professor Tan received his BSc (Hon) degree from the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1971 and PhD degree
from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA in 1975. He also obtained a Certificate in Population Studies from the same university in 1975.
Dr Tan has vast research experience spanning 40 years in the areas of Molecular Population Genetics, Molecular Biology, Isozyme Analysis and
Gene Sequencing and has published more than 300 research papers in peerreviewed international and national scientific journals, conference
proceedings and book chapters. As a researcher, he has collaborated with many researchers from several countries including Malaysia,
Thailand, USA and Australia. Soon Guan is a member of the Malaysian Nature Society, the Malaysian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular

Biology, the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Researches in Asia and Oceania, the Genetics Society of Malaysia and the Fisheries
Society of Malaysia.
In 2000, he was awarded the Johan Setia Mahkota (J.S.M.) (Order of Chivalry, Third Class) title on the occasion of the birthday of His Majesty
the Yang di Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia.
Professor Tan was first appointed as Chief Editor of the Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science in 1997 and reappointed in 2006 and
2008. He continues to be the Chief Editor of Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS) as of date.

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, the Pertanika Journal or
the Pertanika Editorial Board.