How can scientists ensure that publications are composed in an ethically and legally correct fashion? What must be noted regarding rights of use, images, secondary publications and authorship? The DGOU Committee for Science and Research published a guideline for good scientific practice when planning, implementing and publishing studies, and has updated this guideline in November of 2018.
The following always applies: Any form of data falsification, for example by striking undesired results, is fraud in science. That includes the violation of intellectual property which pertains to non-permitted use violating copyright, the distortion of images as well as citations of one’s own or foreign texts. It must also be noted that only those people are named as authors of a publication who made a significant contribution to the scientific work. Management of an institution in which the publication was created or organisation or technical support or the relinquishment of data, for example, is not sufficient to qualify for authorship.