Ethics in information science

Abstract

Ethical questions in information science research, teach ing and practice are considered. It is recommended that supervisors of research make clear their publication policies before a piece of research is undertaken and if they don't wish to publish, then the junior author should have the right to write up the work. In any case, papers should be in alphabetical order of authors. Certain areas of research should possibly not be attempted because of their possible implications. Bias in teaching is considered. The following problems in information work are considered: the unauthor ised use of work facilities, the confidentiality of inquiries, bias in results presented and many aspects of the social responsibility of an information scientist. It is concluded that inquiries should always remain confidential, but that infor mation scientists should be willing to divulge non-confiden tial matter to bona fide third parties and should be prepared to reveal confidential matter if the public interest warrants it. No information scientist should be asked to present biased or misleading results. There is a need for a code of ethics for information scientists, and information scientists need to be far more aware of ethical questions.