Ethics publication issue

[Allo V Psycho]

I'd be interested in the Hive Mind view of this one, especially if anyone has case law or examples.

Let's imagine a PhD student in geography has done some qualitative research among students about a teaching issue (say, field trips). It is of generalisable interest and value, but the University has indicated that they do not wish him to publish it, because they believe it reflects poorly on the course and University. The supervisor agrees it is of interest, but fears to go against the company line. The supervisor is also the PI, with particular reference to the ethics approval.

So, what is position with regard to publication? What rights does the University have in this matter? Or the Supervisor/ PI? or the student? And of course, how might a student be protected against any backlash?

I do have opinions, but I would really value input from this community too.

Cheers,

AvP

[Sciolus]

Just for clarity: does the university object because the findings cast the university in a bad light (field trips are badly run)? You mention ethics approval: is there any suggestion that the study was carried out unethically or that publication would somehow be unethical (by breaching terms of the ethical consent say)?

[Allo V Psycho]

Just for clarity: does the university object because the findings cast the university in a bad light (field trips are badly run)? You mention ethics approval: is there any suggestion that the study was carried out unethically or that publication would somehow be unethical (by breaching terms of the ethical consent say)?

No, it is just about the 'bad light' issue, not the quality of the research.

[warumich]

You present this as a hypothetical issue, but I suppose it's a real life case? I take it then that anonymising things is not going to help and people can still guess which place is meant? Presumably ethics was approved before data collection started, so unless any ethical guidelines were breached I don't think the PI being the ethics guy is particularly relevant (sorry just noticed sciolus made a similar point). Did they get the union involved?

It's a difficult position to be in. I was once in something similar, in my case it wasn't my uni who were against the publication, but my PI, because she thought it reflected badly on her pet project. I published anyway, but made my peace with her, which of course may not be an option here.

[Fishnut]

Who in the uni has indicated they don't want it published? Is there someone above them who can be persuaded of its value?

If it weren't a piece of sh.t I'd suggest that Journal of Controversial Ideas that allows anonymous publication.

If it were me, I think I'd try to navigate to get 'official' approval for publication, but keep receipts with the intention of potentially publishing a second paper on the saga about how universities suppress research that casts them in a negative light and the impact this has on researchers and students. But then again, I'm not intending to stay in academia so wouldn't care so much about burning bridges.

[Allo V Psycho]

Who in the uni has indicated they don't want it published? Is there someone above them who can be persuaded of its value?

If it weren't a piece of sh.t I'd suggest that Journal of Controversial Ideas that allows anonymous publication.

If it were me, I think I'd try to navigate to get 'official' approval for publication, but keep receipts with the intention of potentially publishing a second paper on the saga about how universities suppress research that casts them in a negative light and the impact this has on researchers and students. But then again, I'm not intending to stay in academia so wouldn't care so much about burning bridges.

I think the student would probably like a named publication for his future career. But yes, my view is that the attempt by the University to suppress the information is potentially much more damaging than the information itself. See Streisand et al. I'll attempt to broker an agreed solution in this (of course entirely hypothetical) situation.