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Framework to Address Ethical Issues in Multiple-authored and Mentor-supervised Engineering Publications

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Professional Issues in Ethics Education

Tagged Division

Engineering Ethics

Page Count

22

Page Numbers

25.650.1 - 25.650.22

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21407

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21407

Download Count

529

Paper Authors

biography

Islam H. El-adaway Mississippi State University

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Islam H. El-adaway is Assistant Professor, civil and environmental engineering, Mississippi State University, 501 Hardy Road, 235C Walker Engineering Building, P.O Box 9546, Mississippi State, MS 39762. Email: eladaway@cee.msstate.edu.

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biography

Marianne M. Jennings Arizona State University

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Marianne M. Jennings is professor, legal and ethical studies, Department of Management, Arizona State University, Main Campus, P.O. Box 874006, Tempe, AZ 85287. Email: marianne.jennings@asu.edu.

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Abstract

Framework to Address Ethical Issues in Multiple-Authored and Mentor-Supervised Engineering Publications By Marianne Jennings and Islam H. El-adawayABSTRACTThis paper proposes a three-fold ethical framework for evaluating and analyzing the ethical norms forauthorship status. This paper explore: (1) the ethical issues related to publication, authorship, andmentoring with the goal of better defining co-authorship standards as well as encouraging research ethicsdiscussion and education within the academic civil engineering research community, and (2) examinesthe current factors affecting the academic research environment and describe some of the unspoken butethically questionable practices in the academic community. Graduate students, junior and tenuredfaculty, technicians and administrators, and field practitioners in the engineering research communityneed to address the evolving ethical issues in multiple-authored and mentor-supervised publications.Most tangible rewards are based on a faculty member’s or researcher’s publication record and theresulting increasing pressure to produce publications earlier and more often in the academic’s careerexacerbate the problem of a lack of clarity in ethical standards for multi-authored publications. The timingand frequency standards associated with publications for tenure and promotion and continuing researchfunding opportunities result in academics’ maximization of the number of research efforts taken topublication with the number of authors per scientific publication steadily increasing. Further, as thenumber of authors has increased, the level of contribution of each co-author to the research project andpublication decreases. It is the authors’ hope that their thought-paper stirs the waters of this importantissue to maintain the solidarity and integrity of engineering research activities and publications.

El-adaway, I. H., & Jennings, M. M. (2012, June), Framework to Address Ethical Issues in Multiple-authored and Mentor-supervised Engineering Publications Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21407

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