Misconduct In Scientific Research Research Articles

Data management and accountability in behavioral and biomedical research.

Regulations recently enacted by the Public Health Service and the National Science Foundation to address misconduct in scientific research were designed primarily to curtail deliberate forms of misconduct, such as fabrication or falsification of findings; however, researchers may also be held accountable for inadvertent deficiencies in data management. This article examines some of the problems in data quality control, documentation, and data retention that can occur when computers are used in scientific research. It focuses on deficiencies that could make it difficult to verify the integrity of research data or to reproduce statistical analyses. Strategies for prevention of data management problems are recommended.

Accountability and responsibility in research

Fraud and misconduct in scientific research appears to be increasing since 1980 when several cases were disclosed. Earlier instances were handled awkwardly, but the scientific community has since mobilized and issued guidelines about responding to allegations of misconduct and about the responsible conduct of research. Scientists, editors and the institutions of science are slowly learning how to cope with this problem.

Science Needs Vigilance Not Vigilantes

EVEN IN a period of great cynicism about deceit in politics, religion, and finance, people want to feel confident about professionals on whose special expertise they must rely. That confidence is being eroded, and some of the erosion is appropriate. There has been malpractice in the law, in medicine, and in business; critics charge that efforts to detect, punish, and prevent it have been desultory and ineffective. In recent years, allegations also have been made of serious misconduct in scientific research.^1,2These charges of fraud are all the more notable because science is an enterprise that is supposed to be devoted to truth. Unfortunately, some of the charges of research fraud have been confirmed. In one case, there has been a criminal indictment of a scientist who falsified data on drug treatments for patients with mental retardation (<i>New York Times</i>, May 24, 1987, p 12). In another, policy decisions