Current Ethical Issues in Academic Publishing

Abstract

The aim of this study is to discuss, review, and summarize ethical issues in research, with a focus on the fields of linguistics and translation studies. Ethical issues have come back into focus for several reasons. For instance, the rules surrounding publication have been evolving and tightening in recent years, and the way publications are done has become more consistent (e.g., uploading to online platforms, using OJS platforms, using DOI identifiers). Abstracts and articles are also becoming more uniform in structure. Hungarian researchers are expected to publish in prestigious open-access, international journals. New research methods have been developed and new research topics have emerged and become popular. The use of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence applications, raises new integrity issues.

Research methodology is getting more attention in the field of translation studies. A series of Hungarian handbooks discussing research methods in translation studies is now available (Klaudy, Robin and Seidl-Péch 2022, 2024). The fundamentals of research methodology in linguistics were explored in Fóris’s (2008) book, while Károly (2022a) in her study offered a summary from the perspective of language mediation. The ethical – in other words, integrity – issues of research to date have been addressed by several publications (e.g., Koepsell 2017; Anderson and Corneli 2018; Fóris 2022; Iltis and MacKay 2024). Research integrity involves following ethical principles and professional standards throughout the research process. This applies to individual researchers and organizations alike. The ethical rules of scientific research apply to all fields and disciplines. Academies issue research ethics guidelines to promote public confidence in science and scientific reasoning in public discourse, as well as to contribute to debates on truth, trust, and expertise. Higher education institutions have developed their own ethics codes and issued statements on artificial intelligence applications; they also operate ethics committees at the university and/or faculty levels.

The study compiles the most important research ethics guidelines from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA 2024), the European Commission, and All European Academies (ALLEA). These include the MTA’s Code of Ethics for Science (2024) and the European Commission’s recommendations titled Living Guidelines on the Responsible Use of Generative AI in Research (2025); and ALLEA’s guidelines titled The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (2023); and the regulations of two higher education institutions. It then discusses issues of research integrity in the areas of publication, artificial intelligence applications, and data protection, drawing on scientific ethics guidelines.

When publishing, there are several ethical rules to follow, such as sharing your own results. This means being careful with sources and giving credit to the work of others by citing it. According to the guidelines for using generative AI tools in research, information about using AI must be accurately documented in publications. The basic requirements of communicating one’s own results, communicating new results, and communicating true statements can easily be violated when an author creates text using a generative AI application since AI applications use other text documents, mostly without proper attribution.

Editors and reviewers encounter ethical issues when editing journals and books, reviewing grant applications, and conducting scientific qualification procedures. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) helps in this regard by providing detailed guidelines on its website. These guidelines include the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers (2017).