Research And Countermeasure On Scholastic Misconduct

The development of science has led human being into the Age of Great Science. However, some serious problems emerged, among them scholastic misconducts have gradually caught more and more attention from all sectors of the society in recent years. Those uncovered scholastic misconducts have not only damaged the truth-seeking nature of science, the reputation of scientists, but also wasted valuable social resources and corrupted scholastic ethos and social values. In light of these reasons, we must study and analyze scholastic misconducts as a research subject, and bring forward Countermeasures to prevent and deal with scholastic misconducts. Such a study would be beneficial for government agencies to establish management policy on scientific and academic research, purify scholastic ethos, and promote sense of responsibility in scientific community.This thesis starts with an overview of domestic and abroad researches done on scholastic misconducts, emphasizing on various definitions of scholastic misconduct, analysis of shaping factors and governing policies from various countries. Secondly, based on studies of scientific research codes, this thesis puts forward definition of scholastic misconduct, recommends codes for scientific research that is in accord with scholastic ethics, and classifies scholastic misconducts. This thesis focuses on analyzing subjective and objective factors that cause scholastic misconducts. Among subjective factors, one of the direct causes is deterioration of scientific spirit and ethics; other primary causes include the absence of self discipline and self regulation, suspicion of and disrespect to principles and values during the periods of social transformation, and lack of investment and attention on ethical education. Objective factors include dilemma which scientific review has to face, conflicts of interests, and defects in systems which manage scientific research institutes. Scholastic misconducts are the results of above factors though each of them may play different role. Author's points of view are, to approach and deal with scholastic misconducts, first we must cultivate scientific spirit, promote principles and values, and advocate self discipline and self regulation in science community; next, we must welcome scrutiny from media and invest in ethics education; last but not least, effective policies and procedures must be established to punish scholastic misconducts, and reward and protect whistle blowers. In conclusion, we should adopt combination of self-regulation and heteronomy to prevent and defeat scholastic misconducts.