NISTADS, New Delhi
Ethical misconduct in science, or in any other area, is usually defined in terms of infringements on the rights of an individual (for example, in the case of plagiarism or denial of credit and/or authorship) or of a group (as, say, in the falsification or fabrication of data and scientific results). In both cases, it is the right to truth that has been infringed - in the former case it is the right of the individual that has been infringed, while in the latter the right of the ‘collective’ or community.
By drawing upon the relationship of an individual to society, and the rights and responsibilities of each side, and by means of examples, we try to formulate a more inclusive ethical framework where the role of the collective is underlined.