Ethics for Knowledge Resource Centers in the Era of Information Overload

Theory Of Ethics

The theory of ethics for a discipline is the justification for a set of principles that constitutes the ethical framework of that discipline (Appelbaum, 1997, 2008). Applying the ethics of science, the ethical principles of proper scientific practices and general acceptance of methods by a discipline are represented in the Daubert standard (Passalacque and Nicholas, 2018). The issue of avoiding scientific misconduct is represented in the ethical codes of various professional organizations.

Theories of ethics generally include the following principles

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  Follow all types of evidentiary requirements

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  Do not misrepresent someone’s findings or others’ qualifications.

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  Treat colleagues, invested parties with professional and cultural respect

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  Only perform tasks which one is competent to

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  Do not harm

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  Maintain scientific integrity in a transparent manner

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  Act in an ethical manner avoiding conflicts of interest and misconduct

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  Maintain confidentiality

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  Avoid intellectual, personal, financial and /or emotional biases

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  Maintain stewardship by managing the use and access of evidence, research facilities, collections, and data in a fair and transparent manner

Attfield (2012) proposed three fields of inquiry within the field of ethics. They are

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  Metaethics

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  Normative ethics (establishing standards and guidelines for behavior)

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  Applied ethics