Washington

The Jan Hendrik Schön case has forced physicists to rethink their misconduct guidelines. Credit: BELL LABS

Responsibility for the integrity of a scientific paper need not always be carried by all the authors of the paper, according to ethical guidelines unveiled last week by the American Physical Society (APS).

The revised guidelines are the society's response to recent physics misconduct cases, including that of Jan Hendrik Schön, a researcher at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, who was found to have falsified data in several high-profile papers and was sacked in September (see Nature 419, 419–421; 200210.1038/419419a). They contain an updated code of conduct and advice on how misconduct cases should be handled — but most significant is a revision of the duties of co-authors.

Previous APS guidelines stated that all authors held an equal share of responsibility for a paper. But several of Schön's co-authors were cleared of misconduct because they had simply supplied him with materials.

The new code states that all researchers share “some degree of responsibility” for papers that they co-author, but only some have responsibility for the entire paper. “These include, for example, co-authors who are accountable for the integrity of critical data reported in the paper, carry out the analysis, write the manuscript, present major findings at conferences, or provide scientific leadership,” the guidelines say.

The move has the backing of many physicists, but also has critics, such as physicist David Goodstein, a vice-provost at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who handles many of his institute's misconduct cases. Goodstein says that fraudulent data almost always find their way into print before senior researchers are alerted, so it is unfair to hold supervisors accountable. “The senior people are responsible for bringing suspicions to the attention of the proper authority, but they're not policemen,” he says.

William Brinkman, president of the APS, says that he disagrees with Goodstein but is open to modifying the guidelines in the future. “These are not like Newton's laws — they're not set in stone,” says Brinkman.

→ http://www.aps.org/statements