Research misconduct in the fields of ethics and philosophy: researchers’ perceptions in Spain

This is the Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM) (also called a “preprint”) sent to review to Science and Engineering Ethics on 11/10/2020. The final version of the article was published online at SEE on 21/01/2021. The online version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-021-00278-wEmpirical studies have revealed a disturbing prevalence of research misconduct in a wide variety of disciplines, although not, to date, in the areas of ethics and philosophy. This study aims to provide empirical evidence on perceptions of how serious a problem research misconduct is in these two disciplines in Spain, particularly regarding the effects that the model used to evaluate academics’ research performance may have on their ethical behaviour. The methodological triangulation applied in the study combines a questionnaire, a debate at the annual meeting of scientific association, and in-depth interviews. Of the 541 questionnaires sent out, 201 responses were obtained (37.1% of the total sample), with a significant difference in the participation of researchers in philosophy (30.5%) and in ethics (52.8%); 26 researchers took part in the debate and 14 interviews were conducted. The questionnaire results reveal that 91.5% of the respondents considered research misconduct to be on the rise; 63.2% considered at least three of the fraudulent practices referred to in the study to be commonplace, and 84.1% identified two or more such practices. The researchers perceived a high prevalence of duplicate publication (66.5%) and self-plagiarism (59.0%), use of personal influence (57.5%) and citation manipulation (44.0%), in contrast to a low perceived incidence of data falsification or fabrication (10.0%). The debate and the interviews corroborated these data. Researchers associated the spread of these misconducts with the research evaluation model applied in Spain

Appropriate calibration curve fitting in ligand binding assays

Calibration curves for ligand binding assays are generally characterized by a nonlinear relationship between the mean response and the analyte concentration. Typically, the response exhibits a sigmoidal relationship with concentration. The currently accepted reference model for these calibration curves is the 4-parameter logistic (4-PL) model, which optimizes accuracy and precision over the maximum usable calibration range. Incorporation of weighting into the model requires additional effort but generally results in improved calibration curve performance. For calibration curves with some asymmetry, introduction of a fifth parameter (5-PL) may further improve the goodness of fit of the experimental data to the algorithm. Alternative models should be used with caution and with knowledge of the accuracy and precision performance of the model across the entire calibration range, but particularly at upper and lower analyte concentration areas, where the 4-and 5-PL algorithms generally outperform alternative models. Several assay design parameters, such as placement of calibrator concentrations across the selected range and assay layout on multiwell plates, should be considered, to enable optimal application of the 4- or 5-PL model. The fit of the experimental data to the model should be evaluated by assessment of agreement of nominal and model-predicted data for calibrators