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PHYS 105: Foundations of Physics

APS Guidelines on Ethics

Effective April 10, 2019

As citizens of the global community of science, physicists share responsibility for its welfare. The success of the scientific enterprise rests upon two ethical pillars:

  • The first of them is the obligation to tell the truth, which includes avoiding fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism
  • The second is the obligation to treat people well, which prohibits abuse of power, encourages fair and respectful relationships with colleagues, subordinates, and students and eschews bias, whether implicit or explicit

Professional integrity in the conception, conduct and communication of physics activities reflects not only on the reputations of individual physicists and their organizations, but also on the image and credibility of the physics profession in the eyes of scientific colleagues, government, and the public.

Physicists must adopt high standards of ethical behavior and transmit improving practices with enthusiasm to future generations.

Ethical guidelines

Based on this Ethics Statement, APS provides ethics guidelines to support our values and lay out appropriate and inappropriate behavior in the physics community. These guidelines' areas are:

  1. The research record and publications
  2. Policies for handling allegations of research misconduct
  3. Treatment of colleagues and subordinates
  4. Responsibilities of the profession

What are data ethics?

Data ethics relates to good practices around how data is collected, used, and shared. It's especially relevant when data activities can impact people and society, either directly or indirectly. Decisions about what data is collected, excluded, and used can affect different groups in society in different ways. Scenarios below highlight the importance of understanding and application of data ethics:

Automated Decision-Making: Automated models, like those using AI, can make decisions such as screening job applicants. If the AI has biases because its training data is limited or doesn’t include a wide range of people, it might unfairly favor or ignore some applicants based on their name or background.

Facial Recognition Technology: Programs that recognize faces might be more or less accurate for some racial or ethnic groups than others, leading to unfair treatment. A facial recognition system might misidentify people of certain races more often, causing problems like wrongful accusations.

Human Subject Research: Research studies should include diverse groups to ensure fair and effective results. If a medical study only includes one gender or race, its results might not be applicable to everyone.

Scientific Integrity: Falsifying data in experiments can lead to harmful or malfunctioning products. If scientists fake their data, a new medicine might not work as promised and could even be dangerous.

Social Media Data: Social media platforms collect data on your activity to show targeted ads. Knowing how this works helps you protect your privacy. Instagram tracks your demographic information, what you like and comment on, and what ads you click on to show you content that they think will engage you on the platform more.

Don't forget your 8 Key Questions!

What key questions should I (we) use to evaluate the ethical dimensions of a situation?

  • Fairness - How can I (we) act justly, equitably, and balance legitimate interests?
  • Outcomes - What possible actions achieve the best short- and long-term outcomes for me and all others?
  • Responsibilities - What duties and/or obligations apply?
  • Character - What actions help me (us) become my (our) ideal self (selves)?
  • Liberty - How do I (we) show respect for personal freedom, autonomy, and consent?
  • Empathy - How would I (we) act if I (we) cared about all involved?
  • Authority - What do legitimate authorities (e.g. experts, law, my religion/god) expect?
  • Rights - What rights, if any, (e.g. innate, legal, social) apply?

Laws, guidelines, and privacy

Are there laws surrounding how to collect, use, reuse, or destroy data? Should people's personal privacy be protected? The short answer to both of these questions is: Yes!

Data Laws:
The United States and many other countries have laws regulating data security and privacy. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union and the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act in the US set rules for how companies must handle personal data. To learn more about these laws, check out Yale University's International Toolkit on Data Protection Laws.

Privacy Resources:

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC): EPIC is a great resource for issues related to online and data privacy. They have a resource page on US privacy laws.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): The ACLU provides information on privacy and technology and examples of court cases that deal with these issues. Their privacy and technology page is very informative.

JMU Resources:

Online Privacy and Security Toolkit: A guide to developing good privacy and security practices online. You can visit their understanding online tracking and data collection page for more information.

JMU’s Institutional Review Board (IRB): JMU's IRB offers guidance on maintaining data security. You can visit their data security page for more information.

Places to learn more: