Consequences of POP: Research misconduct

POP has been found to be detrimental to the health and well-being, and a threat to the job security and livelihood, of academics. In response to the challenge posed by POP, a tendency has arisen to indulge in research misconduct that takes various shapes and forms. Misconduct includes misappropriation of ideas, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, impropriety of authorship, failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements, violation of generally accepted research practices, falsification and fabrication of data, failure to support validation of research, and inappropriate behaviour in relation to suspected misconduct. One indicator of the rising incidence of misconduct is the high frequency of paper retraction.