Research Integrity and Misconduct in the Academic Profession

Family without kinship - the pluralism of European regulatory research integrity systems and its implications

This paper investigates the differences and similarities between European regulatory research integrity systems. The data collection process involved gathering information from public sources. A total of 27 European countries were included in the comprehensive dataset. Three determinants were examined: the legal structure of national research integrity regulation, the presence of national research integrity guidelines, and the provision of research integrity training by national research integrity offices. Qualitative content analysis was employed to identify relevant differences in national research integrity systems and the work of national research integrity offices. The findings suggest that the functions and powers of research integrity offices in Europe vary significantly, and there is extensive variation in the legal status and functions of national research integrity systems. We identify the major implications arising from these differences and explore what the challenges for harmonization of the European research integrity systems are. Our findings highlight the need for promoting dialogue between actors on an international level.

The Fragility of Scientific Rigour and Integrity in "Sped up Science": Research Misconduct, Bias, and Hype and in the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, preclinical and clinical research were sped up and scaled up in both the public and private sectors and in partnerships between them. This resulted in some extraordinary advances, but it also raised a range of issues regarding the ethics, rigour, and integrity of scientific research, academic publication, and public communication. Many of the failures of scientific rigour and integrity that occurred during the pandemic were exacerbated by the rush to generate, disseminate, and implement research findings, which not only created opportunities for unscrupulous actors but also compromised the methodological, peer review, and advisory processes that would usually identify sub-standard research and prevent compromised clinical or policy-level decisions. While it would be tempting to attribute these failures of science and its translation solely to the "unprecedented" circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the reality is that they preceded the pandemic and will continue to arise once it is over. Existing strategies for promoting scientific rigour and integrity need to be made more rigorous, better integrated into research training and institutional cultures, and made more sophisticated. They might also need to be modified or supplemented with other strategies that are fit for purpose not only in public health emergencies but in any research that is sped-up and scaled up to address urgent unmet medical needs.

Role-based responsibilities in securing research integrity: increasing support for multi-level implementers

This perspective article focuses on how researchers help to secure the research integrity-related responsibilities of various institutions in their various roles, as same researcher can fulfill the tasks of different stakeholders, be in different roles, and wear multiple hats simultaneously while performing duties at different levels. Institutions whose research integrity-related responsibilities are carried out by researchers should support the multi-level implementers more in carrying out these roles and responsibilities and consider their input when setting up tasks. In addition to having necessary policies and procedures, these should be actionable and supported by responsible research culture and environment. Furthermore, policies and action plans should be created in consideration of and in co-creation with the actual implementers. Realizing that the multiple-level role of researchers also helps to secure research integrity at the institutional and system level of science should go hand in hand with creating responsible research culture and environment where that input is taken into account. This in turn will help researchers deal with various current pressures, e.g., having not enough time or being subject to unfair evaluations.

A dramatized method for teaching undergraduate students responsible research conduct

Worldwide, undergraduate science and pre-medical students are encouraged to participate in authentic active learning lab work and undergraduate research experiences. Unfortunately, these experiences rarely include training in science or research ethics. Although several governmental and scientific organizations have called for increased training in responsible research conduct, relatively few studies report on the effectiveness of different pedagogical approaches. Too often science ethics socialization and training is limited to conversations with individual mentors. This paper describes how viewing an interactive theatrical presentation of several research misconduct scenarios was associated with an increase in first-year students' self-assessed understanding of the topics addressed: proper treatment of data images, respect for animal protocols, authorship considerations, and plagiarism issues. There was no decrease in self-reported responsible conduct of research (RCR) knowledge for students surveyed 10 weeks, as compared to 2 weeks, after the science ethics presentations. RCR test question scores showed only a slight decrease in correct answers from 2 to 10 weeks. Theatrical presentation is an inexpensive yet engaging approach that provides students with a chance to actively consider the importance of RCR and the complexities of contexts surrounding ethics decisions before starting a research career.

Retraction (mal)practices of elite marketing and social psychology journals in the Dirk Smeesters' research misconduct case

The Dirk Smeesters case is one of the most well-documented and widely publicized cases of research misconduct to date. We investigate, using a case study approach, which of Smeesters' articles were found to be unreliable and recommended for retraction, which were retracted, and which were not. We also investigate by whom, when, and how these fraudulent articles were retracted. We found that only six retraction notices exist for the seven Smeesters' fraudulent articles that were recommended for retraction. For four of the six retraction notices, there were no explicit markers that clearly indicated who wrote them (e.g., the editor and/or the publisher). Smeesters' flawed articles were retracted in 97.6 days on average by the retracting journals. Retraction practices in these elite marketing and social psychology journals ranged from a seeming failure to retract (i.e., no record of a retraction notice) to a fair (i.e., informative and transparent) retraction. We also emphasize the ramifications of failing to retract an article whose findings are based on fabricated data. We conclude by listing the lessons learned from the Smeesters case.

Citizen Science in Postsecondary Education: Current Practices and Knowledge Gaps

Citizen science involves the public in science to investigate research questions. Although citizen science facilitates learning in informal educational settings, little is known about its use or effects in postsecondary (college or university) settings. Using a literature review and a survey, we describe how and why citizen science is being used in postsecondary courses, as well as the impacts on student learning. We found that citizen science is used predominantly in biologically related fields, at diverse types of institutions, to improve student engagement and expose students to authentic research. Considerable anecdotal evidence supporting improved student learning from these experiences exists, but little empirical evidence exists to warrant any conclusion. Therefore, there is a need to rigorously assess the relationship between citizen science participation and postsecondary student learning. We highlight considerations for instructors planning to incorporate citizen science and for citizen science projects wanting to facilitate postsecondary use.

Research Ethics: Researchers Consider How Best to Prevent Misconduct in Research in Malaysian Higher Learning Institutions Through Ethics Education

The purpose of this study is to encourage and highlight discussion on how to improve the teaching of research ethics in institutions of higher education in Malaysia. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 21 academics in a research-intensive university in Malaysia, interviewees agreed on the importance of emphasizing the subject of research ethics among students, as well as academics or researchers. This study reveals that participants felt that there is an urgent need to improve the current awareness and knowledge of issues related to misconduct in research among students and academics. The results of this study indicate a need for better teaching on the subject of research ethics in order to prevent misconduct in research. Finally, it concludes with suggestions that there should be a clear definition of research misconduct, to include consequences when engaging in misconduct; a separate research ethics syllabus for pure and social sciences should be conducted; research ethics should be implemented as a core subject, and there should be an early intervention and continuous learning of research ethics, with an emphasis on ethics training.

A Gendered Approach to Science Ethics for US and UK Physicists

Some research indicates that women professionals-when compared to men-may be more ethical in the workplace. Existing literature that discusses gender and ethics is confined to the for-profit business sector and primarily to a US context. In particular, there is little attention paid to gender and ethics in science professions in a global context. This represents a significant gap, as science is a rapidly growing and global professional sector, as well as one with ethically ambiguous areas. Adopting an international comparative perspective, this paper relies on 121 semi-structured interviews with US and UK academic physicists to examine how physicists perceive the impact of gender on science ethics. Findings indicate that some US and UK physicists believe that female scientists handle ethical issues within science in a feminine way whereas their male colleagues approach ethics in a masculine way. Some of these physicists further claim that these different approaches to science ethics lead to male and female scientists' different levels of competitiveness in academic physics. In both the US and the UK, there are "gender-blind" physicists, who do not think gender is related to professional ethics. Relying on physicists' nuanced descriptions this paper contributes to the current understanding of gender and science and engineering ethics.

A Proposed Strategy for Research Misconduct Policy: A Review on Misconduct Management in Health Research System

BACKGROUND

Today, with the rapid growth of scientific production, research misconduct has become a worldwide problem. This article is intended to introduce the successful experience on the management of research paper misconducts in the field of health research.

METHODS

Our aim was to design and develop the strategy for research misconduct policy. Focusing on the national regulatory system, we developed a hierarchical model for paper misconduct policy in all the medical sciences universities and their affiliated research units.

RESULTS

Through our regulatory policy for paper misconduct management, specific protocol was followed in the field of health research publications through which the capabilities of covering the four main elements of prevention, investigation, punishment, and correction have come together.

CONCLUSIONS

Considering the proposed strategy, regarding the strengths and weaknesses, utilization of evaluation tool can be one of the best strategies to achieving the prospective of health research papers by 2025.

Playing, sitting out, and observing the game: an investigation of faculty members' perspectives on political behavior in ethical decision making

Ethical dilemmas are inherently ambiguous, complex, and ill-defined. Additionally, these dilemmas involve multiple stakeholders. These characteristics may induce political behavior as a resolution tactic. Thus, the goal of the present effort was to investigate perspectives on politics among researchers in an ethical decision-making context. A qualitative analysis of interviews with university faculty members revealed that faculty members' perspectives on political behavior in an ethical decision-making context fall into a number of categories, including positive, negative, and realistic views of political activity. The implications of these varying perspectives on ethical decision making are discussed.

Challenges in addressing plagiarism in education

In a new Essay as part of the Research Integrity Series, Tracey Bretag discusses the complex problem of plagiarism within the education system. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary