Situation
Don Royal is a new assistant professor applying to the Blank Foundation for a research grant. He has several papers in progress with Sue Bloom, another faculty member in the department, that may be ready for submission to journals by the end of the summer. However, the deadline for the grant application which he is preparing is June 1, and Royal decides it would be advantageous to cite the papers in his application and list them as “submitted”. After the application has been mailed, Bloom sees it and asks Royal about the “submitted” papers on which she is listed as co-author. Royal admits to fudging the submission of the papers but says “everyone does it”. Bloom writes a complaint to the Blank Foundation and copies it to the president of the university. (based on case, On Being a Scientist, p. 17)
Questions
- If “everyone does it”, is Royal’s behavior justified?
- Was Bloom’s response to Royal’s fabrication of submitted papers appropriate?
Discussion
Misrepresenting the status of papers in preparation, and other deceptive reporting such as falsification of data and plagiarism, violate the ethical principle of integrity. Some sociologists may feel that the pressures on them to bring in grant money are an inducement to cut corners. Sociologists who engage in these practices, however inconsequential they may appear to be, put their careers and institutions at risk and jeopardize public confidence in the discipline. In this case, the ethical violation did not remain internal to the sociological community. Bloom reported the falsification to the funding source and the president of the university. Her way of responding to a perceived ethical violation seems reactionary. It is generally preferable to try to work toward an informal resolution of an ethical dilemma, if that seems appropriate or possible, or seek advice from colleagues or COPE if such consultation does not violate confidentiality rights. Bloom may have been able to convince Royal to retract his application from the Foundation or apprise the Foundation of errors in citation.
