Ph.D Coursework Course – 2020
Research and Publication Ethics
Compulsory and Common to all Ph.D Scholars
“Research and Publication Ethics (RPE)" is made compulsory for all Ph.D. students for pre-registration coursework. The Course objective is to create awareness about publication ethics and publication misconduct.
Module-1: Philosophy and Ethics
(i) Introduction to philosophy: definition, nature and scope, concept, branches.
(ii) Ethics: definition, moral philosophy, nature of moral judgements and reactions.
Module-2: Scientific Conduct
(i) Ethics with respect to science and research.
(ii) Intellectual honesty and research integrity.
(iii) Scientific misconducts: Falsification, Fabrication, and Plagiarism (FFP).
(iv) Redundant publications: duplicate and overlapping publications, salami slicing.
(v) Selective reporting and misrepresentation of data.
Module-3: Publication Ethics
(i) Publication ethics: definition, introduction and importance.
(ii) Best practices/standards setting initiatives and
guidelines: COPE, WAME, etc.
(iii) Conflicts of interest.
(iv) Publication misconduct: definition, concept, problems that lead to unethical behavior and vice versa, types.
(v) Violation of publication ethics, authorship and contributorship.
(vi) Identification of publication misconduct, complaints and appeals.
(vii) Predatory publishers and journals.
(a) Open Access Publishing
(i) Open access publications and initiatives.
(ii) SHERPN/RoMEO online resource to check publisher copyright & self-archiving policies.
(iii) Software tool to identify predatory publications developed by SPPU.
(iv) Journal finder / journal suggestion tools viz. JANE, Elsevier Journal Finder, Springer Journal Suggester, etc.
(b) Publication Misconduct
Group Discussions:
(i) Subject specific ethical issues, FFP, authorship.
(ii) Conflicts of interest.
(iii) Complaints and appeals: examples and fraud from India and abroad.
Software tools:
(i) Use of plagiarism software like Turnitin, Urkund and other open source software tools.
Module-5 : Databases and Research Metrics
Databases:
(i) Indexing databases.
(ii) Citation databases: Web of Science, Scopus, etc.
Research Metrics
(i) Impact Factor of journal as per Journal Citation Report, SNIP, SJR, IPP, Cite Score.
(ii) Metrics: h-index, g index, i10 index, altmetrics.
1. The classes will be there for all the days including Sundays and Holidays, between 6.30 PM to 8.30 P.M. on Sundays between 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 Noon.
2. Only the registered candidates shall attend RPE classes through VTU- LMS (Learning Management System) a link is http://lms.vtu.ac.in
3. Attendance is mandatory.
4. Assignments are to be submitted through LMS only.
5. The classes will be transmitted only through VTU-LMS.
6. Video lectures and study materials shall be made available in the LMS, after the completion of classes.
7. The Guidelines /Manuals to access LMS are made available in the VTU e-Learning portal.
8. Research Scholars who have paid the fee must compulsorily fill out the Google form link https://forms.gle/n19EcchNGexb25np6 and enroll in RPE classes through VTU –Learning Management System (LMS).
