A Preliminary Investigation of Taiwanese Researchers’ (Mis)understandings of Academic Ethics: Taking the Reported Cases Relating to Plagiarism, Improper Citations, and Self-Plagiarism by the Ministry of Science and Technology as Examples

All researchers involved in scientific inquiries have an obligation to follow the norms regarding academic ethics to ensure the quality of their research and to gain trust from the public. As the primary funding agency in the Taiwanese government, the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST) has published various academic ethics-related regulations and policies. The MOST also irregularly releases case summaries of academic ethics violations. However, whether Taiwanese researchers fully understand the academic ethics related rules and policies of the MOST remains debatable. In this vein, the present study adopts a survey method, inviting five experts of academic ethics and 232 local researchers (i.e., principal investigators [PIs] of MOST-funded research projects) to explore their (mis)understanding regarding the topics of plagiarism, improper citations, and self-plagiarism through case scenarios. The current results suggest that the participants (both the experts and PIs) do not seem to understand the definitions of the three topics above fully; they also hold different opinions on the credit attributions between advisors’ funded research and students’ dissertations. In conclusion, the results of this study are expected to be used as references for the amendment of current academic ethics-related regulations and policies of the MOST as well as local universities and colleges and research institutions.