Data Integrity

Fabricating, omitting, or intentionally manipulating data to present desired results are all forms of research misconduct. Similarly, stealing data from others or using others’ data without proper credit and presenting it as your own is not acceptable. It is not appropriate to share or publish results unless you have genuinely undertaken the work to generate those results. These are all examples of falsification of research.

Data manipulation often takes the form of image manipulation (see next section). It can be difficult to determine whether this sort of manipulation is the result of misunderstanding or is well-intentioned rather than a deliberate attempt to mislead readers.