Scientific Integrity: A Duty for Researchers [From the Editor]

Ethics in science is essential for various reasons and is a duty for scientists. The full sense of the word
ethics
may differ according to languages and countries. For instance, in France, we typically make a distinction between ethics and scientific integrity, while scientific integrity is a part of ethics in the United States. For instance, the article “The Submerged Part of the AI-Ceberg,”
[1]
published in the September issue of
IEEE Signal Processing Magazine
(
SPM
), discusses the ethical issues concerning the research in our domain, i.e., a set of philosophical reflections on the interest and usefulness of our work for humanity and for the Earth. These questions are complex and must prompt debates between scientists and society. Conversely, scientific integrity is a set of good practices in the sciences, which has not been discussed but is strictly applied. All of the learned scientific societies promote integrity. Of course, IEEE, as such and also as a publisher of many scientific journals, strongly supports scientific integrity. Scientific integrity and misconduct are at the core of a few talks
[2]
at the annual IEEE Panels of Editors meeting, which bring together volunteers and staff members to discuss assorted publication-related topics. Serious failures related to scientific integrity include plagiarism and data falsification or fabrication, but misconduct related to authorship and during the review process are also unacceptable and must be met with punishment.