title: Neutralising fair credit: factors that influence unethical authorship practices.
abstract: This study experimentally tests whether the techniques of neutralisation as identified in the criminal justice literature influence graduate student willingness to engage in questionable research practices (QRPs). Our results indicate that US-born graduate students are more willing to add an undeserved coauthor if the person who requests it is a faculty member in the student's department as opposed to a fellow student. Students are most likely to add an undeserving author if a faculty member is also their advisor. In addition, four techniques of neutralisation, 'diffusion of responsibility', 'defence of necessity', 'advantageous comparison' and 'euphemistic labelling', are associated with student willingness to act unethically. Participants who had received responsible conduct of research training were no less likely to commit the violation than those who had not. Knowledge of these influencing factors for QRPs will provide for opportunities to improve research ethics education strategies and materials.
authors.affiliation: Adkerson School of Accountancy, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: Brad S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Trinkle
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Trisha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy and Religion, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy and Religion, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA.
authors.forename: Barton
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Moffatt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001319:Authorship; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003625:Data Collection; D004500:Education, Graduate; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D032984:Ethics, Research; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011643:Publishing / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013334:Students / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States
keywords: Ethics; Research Ethics; Scientific Research