Plagiarism, idea theft, or falsifications can have serious consequences as scientific misconduct. Especially in teamwork, researchers share responsibility for the misconduct of their colleagues and can be held accountable for it. "Research & Teaching" has inquired about this with the German Research Foundation (DFG). According to the procedural rules of the DFG, scientific misconduct begins where there is a violation of scientific core duties "and this violation occurs in a blameworthy manner and with some weight". Gray areas include so-called "honest mistakes" or violations of good scientific practice, which, for example, are not covered as offenses in the procedural rules of the DFG for dealing with scientific misconduct or in the model statute of the German Rectors' Conference for safeguarding good scientific practice and dealing with scientific misconduct, due to their lack of seriousness.
Source: Henrike Schwab, Forschung-und-lehre.de