RESEARCH & PUBLICATION ETHICS

Paper Code: 
25GEO 145
Credits: 
02
Contact Hours: 
30.00
Max. Marks: 
100.00
Course Outcomes: 

Course Code

Course Title

Course Learning Outcomes

Learning & Teaching Strategies

Assessment Strategies

25GEO145

Research & Publication Ethics

CO26: Understand research philosophy and ethical frameworks
CO27: Apply scientific conduct in research/publication
CO28: Demonstrate knowledge of publication ethics
CO29: Evaluate open access publishing models
CO30: Utilize research databases and metrics
CO31: Contribute effectively in academic discourse

Teaching Methods:
• Ethical dilemma case studies
• Plagiarism detection workshops
• Journal submission simulations
• Field trips to research institutions
• Action research projects

Student Activities:
• Ethics compliance reports
• Publication process simulations
• Database navigation exercises
• Open access advocacy presentations

• Ethics compliance tests
• Research misconduct case analyses
• Journal evaluation assignments
• Metric calculation quizzes
• Fieldwork observation reports
• Group ethics guideline projects

 

 

6.00
Unit I: 
Philosophy and Ethics
  • Introduction to philosophy: definition; nature & scope; concept; branches
  •  Ethics: definition; moral philosophy; nature of moral judgements & reactions
6.00
Unit II: 
Scientific Conduct
  •  Ethics with respect to science & research, group discussion on subject specific ethical
  • issues
  •  Intellectual honesty & research integrity
  •  Scientific misconducts: falsification, fabrication, & plagiarism (FPP), group discussion
  • on subject specific FPP issues
  • Redundant publications: duplicate & overlapping publications, salami slicing
  •  Selective reporting & misrepresentation of data
6.00
Unit III: 
Publication Ethics
  •  Publication ethics: definition, introduction & importance
  • Best practices/standard setting initiative & guidelines: COPE, WAME etc
  •  Conflicts of interest, group discussions on conflicts of interest
  • Publication misconducts: definition, concept, problems that lead to unethical behaviour &
  • vice versa, types
  • Violation of publication ethics, authorship & contributor-ship, group discussion on
  • subject specific authorship issues
  •  Identification of publication misconduct, complaints & appeals, group discussion on
  • examples and fraud from India & abroad
  • Predatory Publishers & journals
6.00
Unit IV: 
Open Access Publishing
  •  Open access publications & initiatives SHERPA/RoMEO online resource to check
  • publisher copyright & self-archiving policies
  •  Journal finder/journal suggestion tools viz. JANE, Elsevier Journal Finder, Springer
  • Journal Suggester etc.
  •  Software tools developed by SPPU to identify predatory publications
  •  Software tools: use of plagiarism software like Turnitin, Urkund, and other open-source
  • software tools.
6.00
Unit V: 
Databases & Research Metrics
  • Indexing databases
  •  Citation databases: Web of Science, Scopus, etc.
  •  Impact Factor of journal as per Journal Citation Report, SNIP, SJR, IPP, Cite Score
  •  Metrics: h-index, g index, i10 index, altimetric.
Academic Year: 
2025-2026