1. Describe one reason for adhering to high standards in ethics.

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1. Describe one reason for adhering to high standards in ethics.
2. What are the dangers of conflict of interest?

Article: The importance of adhering to high standards of research ethics

Dear Editor,
We were interested to read Doody and
Noonan’s (2016) article concerning nursing
research ethics. There has been a substantial
increase in the amount of midwifery and
nursing research undertaken in recent years.
Increasing numbers of midwives and nurses
acknowledge the need to bolster their own
practice by using evidence-based research
and conducting their own, if only to address
questions and doubts related to day-to-day
patient care.
Although much of midwifery school
curricula in Poland is founded on evidencebased
research, many practices taught to
students are not based on any such proof.
Modern midwifery/nursing strives to develop
procedures based not only on traditional daily
routines, but on rigorous scientific evidence.
Use of the most reliable science-derived
data is becoming a global standard in medical
decision-making. Part of this trend has been
the inclusion of the review of up-to-date
scientific literature as the standard of due
diligence for every health professional.
Research-related activity is a chief driver of progress in the field of medicine. However,
there is a danger that research may become
the subject of monetary contracts, and an
opportunity for financial gain. In addition, the
struggle to achieve the best possible results
in the shortest possible time may lead to
the lowering of standards of reliability and
conscientiousness in research.
This troubling phenomenon, first observed
in the natural sciences, has spread to other
fields (Panel on Ethics in Science, 2000;
Commission on Ethics in Science, 2012). It
is for this reason that all new research needs
to be planned and conducted according
to the rules of scientific research ethics.
Concerns about the quality of research led
to the development of the ethics of scientific
research as a separate field. Discussion of
the problem has entered the intellectual
mainstream as more examples of flawed
research are exposed by the media.

Systems of evaluation that emphasise the
importance of productivity (the quantity of
research) have created an incentive to produce
more research at the expense of quality (Panel
on Ethics in Science, 2000).
The scientific community has seen a
need for the creation and implementation
of standards of good practice for scientific
research. Such standards should be supported,
disseminated and followed by all scientists
and all researchers, whatever their field. Every
aspiring researcher should be aware of the
consequences of breaking such rules.
Despite many problems ensuing from
the lack of respect for proper standards for
conducting research, most frequently apparent
in the form of plagiarism or result falsification,
dedicated ethical training for young
researchers is still too rare. Consequently,
the burden of promoting and disseminating
proper standards and procedures falls on the
heads of research groups and institutes and, at
a lower level, on doctoral supervisors.
The response to the problem of the
lowering of research standards in Poland, led
to the creation of the Ethics Commission
for Supervision of Human Research at the
Health Ministry, as well as the ethics boards
at medical academies in 1982. In 1992, the
Commission on Ethics in Science at the State
Academy of Sciences and the Medical Ethics
Commission were established. All of these
institutions share a common mission—the
implementation and sustenance of proper
standards in scientific research.
In 1994, the Ethics Committee at the
Academy of Sciences issued guidelines
entitled Good Habits in Science (Commission
on Ethics in Science, 1994). These guidelines,
now updated, together with an ethical code
for nursing/midwifery research, allow one
to draw basic norms of conduct in research
(Commission on Ethics in Science, 2001).
The mounting challenge of falling
standards caused the Commission on Ethics in
Science to publish its Code of Ethics in Science,
containing universal rules and values to be
adhered to by every scientist and researcher (Commission on Ethics in Science, 2012).
This code set out the chief features of proper
practice in research:
? Adherence to basic standards of scientific
practice (adequacy and standardisation
of methods, conscientious recording of
results, scepticism towards one’s own
findings, and an honest admission of the
contributions of one’s collaborators, rivals
and predecessors)
? Creation of an environment fostering
cooperation between different research teams
? Attention to the needs of young researchers
and the fostering of ethical attitudes
? Proper data handling and storage
? Adherence to copyright and publication rules
? Avoiding conflicts of interest.
All of these norms should be universally
accepted and understood. When scientific
dishonesty takes place, actions should be
taken to sanction the researcher breaking the
commonly affirmed rules and procedures.
Ethical values, standards of scientific
diligence and good practices in research are
the responsibility of the scientific community
as a whole and of each practitioner alone—a
fact that we should all remember.