Plagiarism,Fake Peer-Review,and Duplication: Predominant Reasons Underlying Retractions of Iran-Affiliated Scientific Papers

Science and Engineering Ethics - Retractions of scientific papers published by some Iran-affiliated scientists in the preceding decade have attracted much attention and publicity; however, the...     

Using the Structure of Evaluative Components as a basis for comparing the oral narratives of schizophrenics and healthy individuals

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - In this study, evaluative language in narratives of 15 healthy and 15 schizophrenic females was compared using the Structure of Evaluative Components. The two...     

In Their Own Words: Research Misconduct from the Perspective of Researchers in Malaysian Universities

Published data and studies on research misconduct, which focuses on researchers in Malaysia, is still lacking, therefore, we decided that this was an area for investigation. This study provides qualitative results for the examined issues through series of in-depth interviews with 21 researchers and lecturers in various universities in Malaysia. The aims of this study were to investigate the researchers’ opinions and perceptions regarding what they considered to be research misconduct, their experience with such misconduct, and the factors that contribute to research misconduct. Our findings suggest that the most common research misconducts that are currently being witnessed in Malaysian universities are plagiarism and authorship disputes, however, researchers seldom report incidents of research misconduct because it takes too much time, effort and work to report them, and some are just afraid of repercussions when they do report it. This suggests possible loopholes in the monitoring system, which may allow some researchers to bypass it and engage in misconduct. This study also highlights the structural and individual factors as the most influential factors when it comes to research misconduct besides organizational, situational and cultural factors. Finally, this study highlights the concerns of all participants regarding the ‘publish or perish’ pressure that they believe would lead to a hostile working environment, thus enhancing research misconduct, as researchers tend to think about their own performance rather than that of whole team or faculty. Consequently this weakens the interpersonal relationships among researchers, which may compromise the teaching and supervision of junior researchers and research students.     

Reading direction and the central perceptual span: Evidence from Arabic and English

In English and other alphabetic languages read from left to right, useful information acquired during each fixational pause is generally reported to extend much further to the right of each fixation than to the left. However, the asymmetry of the perceptual span for alphabetic languages read in the opposite direction (i.e., from right to left) has received very little attention in empirical research. Accordingly, we investigated the perceptual span for Arabic, which is one of the world’s most widely read languages and is read from right to left, using a gaze-contingent window paradigm in which a region of text was displayed normally around each point of fixation, while text outside this region was obscured. Skilled Arabic readers who were bilingual in Arabic and English read Arabic and English sentences while a window of normal text extended symmetrically 0.5^o to the left and right of fixation or asymmetrically, by increasing this window to 1.5^o or 2.5^o to either the left or the right. When English was read, performance across window conditions was superior when windows extended rightward. However, when Arabic was read, performance was superior when windows extended leftward and was essentially the reverse of that observed for English. These findings show for the first time that a leftward asymmetry in the central perceptual span occurs when Arabic is read and, for the first time in over 30 years, provide a new indication that the perceptual span for alphabetic languages is modified by the overall direction of reading.     

Effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy on Psychological Well-Being of People with Late Blindness

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) on improving the psychological wellbeing of people with late blindness. The design of this study was organized into pre-test, post-test and follow-up with two groups; experimental and control. After choosing qualified individuals, they were replaced into experimental and control groups at random (30 clients in each group). Pre-test was conducted for both groups. Thereafter, the experimental group received REBT training. Both groups, took part in post-test at the end of the training course. After 1 month, follow-up test was taken. Tools such as demographic particulars, IBT questionnaire, depression, anxiety and stress 21 inventory, Eysenck questionnaire were used for gathering information of the study. All the analytical process has been done by SPSS18 program. The scores of both groups (experimental and control groups) were not different significantly in pre-test. The scores gained by the experimental group in post-test showed a significant increase compared with the pre-test result. It proved the effectiveness of REBT with experimental group. And also, in comparing post-test with follow-up experimental group no significant difference were yield. So, as a result the effectiveness interference through group training of REBT with experimental group can be evaluated as constant. In control group there were no significant difference among the scores gained in pre-test, post-test and follow up. The findings of this research indicate the effectiveness of group coaching of REBT with enhancing the indices of psychological well being of people with late blindness.     

An Analysis of Federal Court Cases Involving Nine Selection Devices

A content analysis of US federal court cases was conducted to assess the relative frequency of litigation associated with nine selection devices: 1) unstructured interviews; 2) structured interviews; 3) biographical information blanks; 4) cognitive ability tests; 5) personality tests; 6) honesty tests; 7) physical ability tests; 8) work sample tests; and 9) assessment centers. The outcomes of the cases (whether the devices were ruled to be discriminatory) for each of the nine types of selection devices were also examined. The possible implications of the current findings for organizations and researchers are discussed.     

Attitudes Toward Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for Genetic Disorders Among Potential Users in Malaysia

While pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is available and legal in Malaysia, there is an ongoing controversy debate about its use. There are few studies available on individuals’ attitudes toward PGD, particularly among those who have a genetic disease, or whose children have a genetic disease. To the best of our knowledge, this is, in fact, the first study of its kind in Malaysia. We conducted in-depth interviews, using semi-structured questionnaires, with seven selected potential PGD users regarding their knowledge, attitudes and decisions relating to the use PGD. The criteria for selecting potential PGD users were that they or their children had a genetic disease, and they desired to have another child who would be free of genetic disease. All participants had heard of PGD and five of them were considering its use. The participants’ attitudes toward PGD were based on several different considerations that were influenced by various factors. These included: the benefit-risk balance of PGD, personal experiences of having a genetic disease, religious beliefs, personal values and cost. The study’s findings suggest that the selected Malaysian participants, as potential PGD users, were supportive but cautious regarding the use of PGD for medical purposes, particularly in relation to others whose experiences were similar. More broadly, the paper highlights the link between the participants’ personal experiences and their beliefs regarding the appropriateness, for others, of individual decision-making on PGD, which has not been revealed by previous studies.