title: Ethics in Publishing: Complexity Science and Human Factors Offer Insights to Develop a Just Culture.
abstract: While ethics in publishing has been increasingly debated, there seems to be a lack of a theoretical framework for making sense of existing rules of behavior as well as for designing, managing and enforcing such rules. This letter argues that systems-oriented disciplines, such as complexity science and human factors, offer insights into new ways of dealing with ethics in publishing. Some examples of insights are presented. Also, a call is made for empirical studies that unveil the context and details of both retracted papers and the process of writing and publishing academic papers. This is expected to shed light on the complexity of the publication system as well as to support the development of a just culture, in which all participants are accountable.
authors.affiliation: DEPROT/UFRGS (Industrial Engineering and Transportation Department, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), Av. Osvaldo Aranha, 99, 5. andar, Porto Alegre, RS, CEP 90035-190, Brazil. saurin@ufrgs.br.
authors.forename: Tarcisio Abreu
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Saurin
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011643:Publishing / Q000941:ethics*; D012586:Science / Q000941:ethics*; D015871:Scientific Misconduct; D014956:Writing / Q000592:standards
keywords: Complexity science; Ethics in publishing; Human factors; Just culture