Confronting Research Misconduct in Citizen Science

Lisa M. Rasmussen

doi:10.5334/cstp.207

Abstract

So, you suspect that someone in a citizen science project committed research misconduct. What do you do now? As citizen science methods become increasingly popular, it seems inevitable that at some point, someone identifying themselves as a citizen scientist will be accused of committing research misconduct. Yet the growth of the field also takes research increasingly outside of traditional regulatory mechanisms of identifying, investigating, and delivering consequences for research misconduct. How could we prevent or handle an allegation of scientific misconduct in citizen science that falls outside of our familiar regulatory remedies? And more broadly, what does this imply for ensuring scientific integrity in citizen science? I argue that the increasing use of new research methods in citizen science poses a challenge to traditional approaches to research misconduct, and that we should consider how to confront issues of research misconduct in citizen science. I briefly describe existing approaches to research misconduct and some aspects of citizen science giving rise to the problem, then consider alternative mechanisms, ranging from tort law to professional responsibility to a proposed “research integrity insurance,” that might be deployed to address and prevent such cases.

Highlights

You suspect that someone participating in a citizen science project has committed research misconduct
Though there is no way to know for sure, a majority of citizen science research in the United States is likely covered by federal research misconduct regulations by virtue of including collaborators whose work is subject to them
One of the main challenges in considering how to ensure the integrity of citizen science is that our conventional regulatory mechanisms track categories that are being rearranged or ignored altogether in this new field

Summary

Confronting Research Misconduct in Citizen Science

You suspect that someone in a citizen science project committed research misconduct. As citizen science methods become increasingly popular, it seems inevitable that at some point, someone identifying themselves as a citizen scientist will be accused of committing research misconduct. The growth of the field takes research increasingly outside of traditional regulatory mechanisms of identifying, investigating, and delivering consequences for research misconduct. How could we prevent or handle an allegation of scientific misconduct in citizen science that falls outside of our familiar regulatory remedies? I briefly describe existing approaches to research misconduct and some aspects of citizen science giving rise to the problem, consider alternative mechanisms, ranging from tort law to professional responsibility to a proposed “research integrity insurance,” that might be deployed to address and prevent such cases

Introduction

Findings

Conclusion