What are Professional Ethics

A research team from a prominent laboratory published an article in a prestigious academic journal. It was considered a breakthrough paper that answered a major question in a scientific field. Papers produced in a laboratory normally list many people in the laboratory as authors, but the first named author is the primary person responsible for the paper. The first author of this paper was a postdoctoral researcher, working under her supervisor at the time.

After the researcher left for another job, other researchers in the laboratory were unable to repeat the results following exactly the same methods. The supervisor, suspecting possible scientific misconduct, requested that the researcher return to the laboratory to redo her experiments and confirm the authenticity of her results, but she declined.

An institutional investigation into the experiment concluded that there was no conclusive evidence that the results were actually achieved, but also that there was no conclusive evidence of misconduct or fabrication. The article was retracted without the researcher’s agreement. The retraction damaged the researcher’s career and reputation in the scientific community.

Source: https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/integrity-ethics/module-14/exercises/a-case-studies.html

What are professional ethics?

What professional ethics were breached in the case?

What could have been done differently to rectify the dilemma that was faced?

Explain what is meant by personal ethics. Were there any personal ethics  breached in the case? If yes list these ethics