MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL OF FAMILY MEDICINE • VOLUME 7, ISSUE 10 43 MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL OF FAMILY MEDICINE VOLUME 9 ISSUE 9 MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL OF FAMILY MEDICINE VOLUME 12 ISSUE 7 SEPTEMBER 2014 CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION A review on the diverse types of research misconduct Mohsen Rezaeian Correspondence: Professor Mohsen Rezaeian PhD, Epidemiologist Social Medicine Department Occupational Environmental Research Center Rafsanjan Medical School Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences Rafsanjan-Iran Tel: 03915234003 Fax: 03915225209 Email: moeygmr2@yahoo.co.uk Abstract Research misconduct encompasses a vast array of research misbehaviors, from very serious to less serious. We could name very serious misbehavior as research fraud and less serious types as questionable research practices. The aim of the present article is to overview the diverse types of research misconduct. Key words: Research misconduct, Research fraud, Questionable research practice Introduction Research misconduct encompasses a vast array of behaviors, from very serious research misbehavior such as data fabrication to the less serious aspects such as authorship disputes. It would be possible to categorize very serious misbehaviors as research fraud and less serious types as questionable research practices. From one hand, evidence suggests that different research misconduct, either research fraud or questionable research practices might have substantial damaging impact on the advancement of human knowledge. On the other hand, some novice and young researchers might innocently commit such misconduct. Therefore, the aim of the present article is to overview diverse types of research misconduct. Data fabrication and data falsiication Data fabrication means inventing fake data whilst data falsiication implies distorting existing data to obtain some speciic results. Both of these research misbehaviors are among the most serious research misconduct i.e. research fraud. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism Plagiarism implies stealing other people’s ideas and self-plagiarism means stealing one’s own idea both without providing proper attribution. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism could start from one sentence and might extend to one paragraph and even a full article. Plagiarism especially in larger text copying is categorized as research fraud. Duplicate publication, redundant publication and salami publication Duplicate publication indicates publishing two identical articles whilst redundant publication involves publication of two rather similar articles. Salami publication also denotes publishing two or more articles from a single study. It should be noted that only large epidemiological studies might permit publication of more than one article. Whilst duplicate publication can be categorized as a serious research misconduct, redundant and salami publication might be considered as less serious forms. Failing to gain approval for the research proposal from an ethics committee for research Failing to gain approval for the research proposal from an ethics committee for research could be regarded as a serious type of research misconduct.