Excerpt from the second edition of "Compliance Handbook
for RIKEN Personnel"
RIKEN’s Regulations on the Prevention of Research Misconduct stipulates
the responsibility of those in the following positions: center director,
laboratory head and personnel as shown below.
Personnel duties
1. In scientific research, it is the individual researcher who proposes and carries out research, analyzes
and evaluates data, and publishes the results. Therefore, it is the individual researcher who must be
held accountable for any misconduct that goes against research ethics. Given this, all personnel areexpected to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct and abide by the following precepts:(1) Do not engage in research misconduct.
(2) Do not contribute to research misconduct.
(3) Do not solicit others to engage in research misconduct.
2. Personnel must take all research ethics courses required by RIKEN within the time limit set byRIKEN.
3. Personnel must appropriately implement RIKEN’s requirements for maintaining research records
and follow required procedures for publicizing research results.
4. Personnel must faithfully comply with the Research Ethics Education Officer’s directives or requestsfor improvements in measures to prevent research misconduct.

11. Prevention of research misconduct
Case 1Fabrication

An image of a sample unrelated to the research paper, and obtained in experimental conditions
differing from those described in the text of a study, was submitted as a figure obtained underthe experimental conditions described in the study.

Case 2

Falsification

An electrophoretic image obtained in an experiment contained a band that could not beexplained. The band was intentionally erased using image-altering software.

Case 3

Plagiarism

Without obtaining the author’s permission, a researcher translated into his own language theresults of another group of researchers and used the material as his own results in a lecture hegave at an academic conference in his country. The presentation material did not indicate theoriginal source, and citation was not made in an appropriate manner2.

■ Explanation
RIKEN’s Regulations on the Prevention of Research Misconduct defines “research misconduct,”“fabrication,” “falsification” and “plagiarism” as follows3.
In these regulations, the term “research misconduct” refers to deliberately, or through gross negligence,
fabricating, falsifying or plagiarizing data or investigation results in a published paper or presentationof research results.
(1) Fabrication: Making up data or research findings that do not exist.
(2) Falsification: Manipulating research documents, specimens, equipment, or processes so that data
and research results are no longer authentic.
(3) Plagiarism: Appropriating another person’s ideas, analyses, data, research results, papers or
terminology without the other person’s consent or without giving appropriate credit.
Incidents of research misconduct result in the loss of credibility and public trust in scienceand technology. Such activity may also damage the reputation of the institution. Also, when acommittee is convened to investigate the incident, a large amount of time, energy and publicfunds are expended.

2 (Case confirmed by MEXT as an example of research misconduct)

 confirmed case of plagiarism by teaching staff affiliated with Center for Environment, Health and Field Sciences, ChibaAUniversity
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/jinzai/fusei/1360843.htm (J) (February 20, 2016)
3 Article 2, paragraph 2 of the Regulations on the Prevention of Research Misconduct2

New image-processing software makes it easier to alter images on computer screens in order tomake images clearer for presentations and publications. However, overuse of such techniques
may result in fabrication of data. Many academic journals post warnings on the publication ofimages in their rules for manuscript submission. For instance, the Journal of Cell Biology gives
the following instructions4.
Image Presentation:
As noted above in our “Editorial Policies” section, all figures from manuscripts that have received aneditorial acceptance will be screened for any evidence of manipulation. As you prepare your figures,
please adhere to the following guidelines to ensure accurate presentation of your data and to minimize
delays during production:• No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced.
• 		The grouping of images from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, fields, orexposures, must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure (i.e., using dividing lines)
and in the text of the figure legend. If dividing lines are not included, they may be added by ourproduction department, and this may result in production delays.
• 		Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if they are applied to every
pixel in the image and as long as they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information
present in the original, including the background. Non-linear adjustments (e.g., changes togamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.
A more detailed discussion of image presentation can be found here (Rossner and Yamada, J.Cell Biol.
166: 11-15)
Plagiarism, an instance of misrepresenting the authorship of a document, is an act of serious
professional negligence, which displays a lack of honesty and ethical judgement5. It is also aviolation of copyright laws6.
Even if you have no intention to profit through such acts, you may be suspected of plagiarism
if you have not properly cited prior research. Before submitting a manuscript for publication,
always confirm whether you have neglected any attributions, or made any mistakes in yourcitations, by using iThenticate, the text similarity tool subscribed to by RIKEN.
When suspicions of research misconduct are raised, all coauthors of the study―not just theperson accused of the misconduct―are held responsible and are asked to produce material toexplain the extent of their contribution to the study. They must also explain their involvementin the study and the role they played in collecting and processing experimental data andimages. Furthermore, even if they themselves are not authors or coauthors, supervisors of
those involved will be asked whether they exercised sufficient managerial guidance. If it isfound that such guidance was insufficient, their managerial responsibility will be called intoquestion.
4 Instructions for Authors, The Journal of Cell Biology

http://jcb.rupress.org/site/misc/print.xhtml#digim (February20,2016)
5 For the Sound Development of Science―The Attitude of a Conscientious Scientist
6 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-kousei/data/rinri_e.pdf (February20,2016)
Article 119, paragraph 2 of the Copyright Act

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