PRC cheat sheet

Professional Research Conduct

• Research misconduct is traditionally defined as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism (FFP); other questionable practices (e.g., undisclosed authorship, selective reporting) are handled under separate institutional policies.

• Fabrication = inventing data or results and recording or reporting them; falsification = manipulating, changing, or omitting data, materials, or processes so the record no longer represents the work.

• Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit, including self-plagiarism of previously published text without attribution.

• Honest error or differences of opinion are not misconduct; intent, not merely an incorrect result, distinguishes misconduct from error under most institutional definitions.

• Authorship requires substantial contribution to conception, design, execution, or interpretation, plus drafting or critical revision and approval of the final version.

• Gift, ghost, and guest authorship are prohibited; corresponding author accepts responsibility for correspondence and for the integrity of the whole manuscript.

• Informed consent and ethics review (IRB/IACUC) are required before human or animal research begins; protocol amendments need re-approval before implementation.

• Data must be retained for a defined period (commonly 3-10 years, or longer per funder/institution) and made available for verification; raw data belong to the institution, not the individual.

• COI disclosure covers financial interests, patents, advisory roles, and editorial relationships; undisclosed conflicts can invalidate a study's credibility even if data are sound.