ETHICS AND ACCOUNTABILITIES IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: AN OVERVIEW FROM NIGERIA AND MALAYSIA

This study examines ethics and responsibility in scientific research, focusing on comparative data from Nigeria and Malaysia. It employs a qualitative and descriptive approach based on secondary data to investigate the moral principles guiding research conduct, as well as the systemic and cultural elements that influence ethical failures. The findings show severe ethical infractions in both countries, such as informed consent violations, data fabrication, and authorship manipulation. Lax institutional oversight, inadequate ethics training, and a "publish or perish" mentality are often the root causes of these issues. The paper highlights how important it is to fortify ethical committees, increase research transparency, enforce penalties for misconduct, and include ethics education into academic careers. By learning from notable case studies, such as the Pfizer Trovan trial in Nigeria and ethical review challenges in by drawing lessons from notable case studies, such as the Pfizer Trovan trial in Nigeria and ethical review challenges in Malaysian universities, this paper offers actionable strategies to bolster research integrity and public trust