Accountability practices in research and publication ethics on the web. Linguistic and discursive features


Abstract


With the large increase in the amount of published research being carried out throughout the world, potential is mounting for ethical practices to take a back seat in the apparent frequency of reported cases of scientific misconduct. While these cases erode the credibility of scientific research and public trust in the publication process, they often delineate accountabilities between conflicting parties and require organisational and institutional responses to good research practices based on fundamental, ethical principles of research integrity. In this paper, I explore the linguistic and discursive features of research and publication ethics in a representative corpus of misconduct cases as a genre created and maintained by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) organisation over its website. Using a combined framework of methodological perspectives from functionally-defined criteria of discourse and genre categorizations (Askehave, Swales 2001; Bhatia 2004; Swales 2004) alongside evaluation (Hunston, Thompson 2000) and stance-taking (Biber et al. 1999; Hyland 2005), this study looks at the discourse organisational structure of texts with identifiable communicative moves and associated language use to unveil the types of social actors’ relations and identities constructed through “Action”, “Representation” and “Identification” (Fairclough 2003) of the social events and practices in question via recontextualization and interdiscursivity (Bhatia 2004, 2017; Fairclough 2003; Sarangi, Brookers-Howell 2006). Linguistic and rhetorical choices made on recontextualized and representational features of text reveal how cases set the tone for accountability between the social actors (parties) involved in matters of research ethics, and how they allow the organisation to take responsibility for the integrity of their research conduct by fostering a climate of responsible practices and adjusting party accountabilities. Attending to both linguistic and discursive features, the communicative practices of the case genre authenticate the competing social relations, identities, values or interests of the parties in this kind of discourse representation, and align the institutional action, identity and values of the organisation with social norms when legitimising its commitment to create and preserve conditions for ethical principles and professional standards essential for a range of responsible practices of research publishing.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v34p231

Keywords: discourse and genre; accountability; ethics; research integrity

References


Askehave I., Swales J.M. 2001, Genre identification and communicative purpose: A problem and a possible solution, in “Applied Linguistics” 22 [2], pp. 195-212.

Barrett W. 2004, Responsibility, accountability and corporate activity, in “Online Opinion: Australia’s E-Journal of Social and Political Debate” http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=2480.

Bazerman C. 1994, Systems of genres and the enactment of social intentions, in Freedman A. and Medway P. (eds.), Genre and the New Rhetoric, Taylor & Francis, London, pp. 79-101.

Bhatia V.K. 2004, Worlds of Written Discourse, Continuum, London/New York.

Bhatia V.K. 2017, Critical Genre Analysis: Investigating Interdiscursive Performance in Professional Communication, Routledge, London/New York.

Bax S. 2011, Discourse and Genre: Analysing Language in Context, Palgrave, Basingstoke/New York.

Beck U. 2000, World Risk Society, Polity Press, Cambridge.

Biber D., Connor U. and Upton T.A. 2007, Discourse on the Move, Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Biber D., Johansson S., Leech G., Conrad S. and Finegan E. 1999, Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Pearson Education, London.

Biber D. and Conrard S. 2009, Register, Genre and Style, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Declerck R. and Reed S. 2001, Conditionals: A Comprehensive Empirical Analysis, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin.

DuBois J.M., Anderson E.E., and Chibnall J. 2013, Assessing the need for a research ethics remediation program, in “Clinical and Translational Science” 6 [3], pp. 209-213.

Evetts J. 2011, Sociological analysis of professionalism: Past, present and future, in “Comparative Sociology” 10, pp. 1-37.

Fanelli D. 2009, How many scientists fabricate and falsify research? A systematic review and meta-analysis of survey data, in “PLoS One” 4. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005738.

Fanelli D., Costas R., Fang F., Casadevall A. and Bik E. 2019, Testing hypotheses on risk factors for scientific misconduct via matched-control analysis of papers containing problematic image duplications, in “Science and Engineering Ethics” 25, pp. 771-789.

Fairclough N. 1993, Discourse and Social Change, Polity Press, Cambridge.

Fairclough N. 2001, Language and Power, Longman, London.

Fairclough N. 2003, Analysing Discourse: Text Analysis for Social Research, Routledge, London.

Garzone G. and Santulli F. 2004, What can corpus linguistics do for critical discourse analysis?, in Partington A., Morley J. and Haarman L. (eds.), Corpora and Discourse, Peter Lang, Bern, pp. 352-368.

Goffman E. 1959, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Doubleday, New York.

Halliday M.A.K. and Matthiessen C. 2004, An Introduction to Functional Grammar, Arnold, London.

Hieronymi P. 2004, The force and fairness of blame, in “Philosophical Perspectives” 18 [1], pp. 115-148.

Hunston S. and Thompson G. 2000, Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourses, Oxford University Press, New York.

Hyland K. 1994, Hedging in academic writing and ESP textbooks, in “English for Specific Purposes” 13 [3], pp. 239-256.

Hyland K. 1998, Hedging in Scientific Research, John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Hyland K. 2005, Stance and engagement: A model of interaction in academic discourse, in “Discourse Studies” 7 [2], pp. 173-192.

Kanoksilapatham B. 2005, Rhetorical structure of biochemistry research articles, in “English for Specific Purposes” 24, pp. 269-292.

Leech G. 2005, Meaning and the English Verbs. Longman, London.

Luhmann N. 1979, Trust and Power, Wiley, London.

Mills S. 2003, Gender and Politeness, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Prior P. 2001, Voices in text, mind and society: Sociohistoric accounts of discourse acquisition and use, in “Journal of Second Language Writing” 1 [2], pp. 55-81.

Sarangi S. and Brookes-Howell L. 2006, Recontextualising the familial lifeworld in genetic counselling case notes, in Gotti M. and Salagar-Meyer F. (eds), Advances in Medical Discourse Analysis: Oral and Written Contexts, Peter Lang, Bern, pp. 197-225.

Sarangi S. and Candlin C.N. 2003, Categorization and explanation of risk: A discourse analytical perspective, in “Health, Risk & Society” 5 [2], pp. 115-124.

Steneck N.H. 2006, Fostering integrity in research: definitions, current knowledge, and future directions, in “Science and Engineering Ethics” 12 [1], pp. 53-74.

Swales J.M. 1990, Genre Analysis. English in Academic and Research Settings, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Swales J.M. 2004, Research Genres: Explorations and Applications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Toolan M. 2001, Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction, Routledge, London.

Yates J. and Orlikowski J.W. 1992, Genres of organizational communication: A structurational approach to studying communication and media, in “Academy of Management Review” 17 [2], pp. 299-326.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
کاغذ a4

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.