The case of the misleading funnel plot

Prevention is better than cureGiven the above considerations, plagiarism is better dealt with by concentrating on an instructional system of prevention.Many institutions have begun to implement courses on the responsible conduct of research, exploring a range of research integrity issues.Although this is a step in the right direction, such instruction benefits mainly students.Legions of seasoned researchers continue to operate without such instruction.Clearly, research integrity needs to be incorporated into continuing education targeted at this group.Training on responsible conduct of research must go beyond the "high crimes" of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism, all three of which are thankfully still relatively rare in science.Zigmond and Fischer have argued that misdemeanours make up the bulk of the ethical transgressions. 10Instruction on plagiarism should focus on the principles of ethical writing. 11This approach assumes that each of our written works represents an implicit contract between us and our readers in which the reader assumes that, unless otherwise noted, we are the sole authors of the work, the words and ideas are our own, and the ideas, concepts and theories described are accurately and objectively represented to the best of our ability.Since it is doubtful that we will ever eliminate plagiarism or other forms of intentional misconduct, we need to increase our ability to detect these transgressions and effectively prosecute and punish offenders.Instruction in ethical writing indirectly touches on several other traditional forms of misconduct.Consequently, I believe that when we internalise and apply its basic principles they will significantly reduce plagiarism and generalise to other areas of scientific research and personal conduct.I thank Maryellen Reardon for comments on an earlier draft of this article.