Misconduct in Biomedical Research: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Aims and Objectives

This study aimed to assess the nature and prevalence of misconduct in self and nonself-reported biomedical research.

Materials and Methods

A detailed review of previously conducted studies was conducted through PubMed Central, PubMed, and Google Scholar using MeSH terms: "scientific misconduct," "Publications," "plagiarism," and "authorship," and keywords: scientific misconduct, gift authorship, ghost authorship, and duplicate publication. MeSH terms and keywords were searched in combinations using Boolean operators "AND" and "OR." Of 7771 articles that appeared in the search, 107 were selected for inspection. The articles were screened for their quality and inclusion criteria. Finally, 16 articles were selected for meta-analysis. Data analysis was conducted using an Open-Source, Open Meta Analyst, statistical software using the package "metaphor."

Results

Plagiarism, data fabrication, and falsification were prevalent in most articles reviewed. The prevalence of research misconduct for plagiarism was 4.2% for self-reported and 27.9% for nonself-reported studies. Data fabrication was 4.5% in self-reported and 21.7% in nonself-reported studies. Data falsification was 9.7% in self-reported and 33.4% in nonself-reported studies, with significant heterogeneity.

Conclusion

This meta-analysis gives a pooled estimate of the misconduct in research done in biomedical fields such as medicine, dental, pharmacy, and others across the world. We found that there is an alarming rate of misconduct in recent nonself-reported studies, and they were higher than that in the self-reported studies.

Impact of dental fluorosis on the oral health related quality of life among 11- to 14-year-old school children in endemic fluoride areas of Haryana (India)

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates the impact of dental fluorosis on the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among 11- to 14-year-old school children in endemic fluoride areas of Haryana (India).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2,200 school children in endemic fluoride areas of Haryana. Using cluster random sampling, three districts out of 14 endemic fluoride districts were selected, and children 11-14 years of age were examined. A child perception questionnaire (CPQ_11-14 ) (Hindi version) evaluated the impact of dental fluorosis on OHRQoL. The Thylstrup-Fejerskov index (TFI) was used for assessing dental fluorosis. The data were analysed using SPSS version 18, and non-parametric tests were used to assess the significance. The regression analysis was used to determine the effect of change in CPQ scores with dental fluorosis at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

The study participants included 45.3% males and 54.7% females among which mild to moderate level of dental fluorosis was identified with mean mean TFI Scores being 3.19 ± 1.55. Children without dental fluorosis had 1.17 times more odd of percieving their oral health as excellent/good when compared to children with dental fluorosis (P < 0.05). Study subjects with dental fluorosis did not have higher mean CPQ_11-14 domain and total scores when compared with subjects without dental fluorosis.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that mild dental fluorosis did not affect the OHRQoL of the children in the endemic fluoride areas of Haryana in India.

Validation of the Hindi version of the early childhood oral health impact scale among 3-5-year-old preschool children in Rohtak city, Haryana

BACKGROUND

The early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) has been developed for assessing oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in the preschool children and translated and validated in different languages to conform to their cultures. This tool has not been validated in Hindi for use among Indian preschool children till now. Hence, the present study was undertaken to assess the validity of the Hindi version of the ECOHIS among 3-5-year-old preschool children in Rohtak city, Haryana.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Hindi version of the ECOHIS was developed through standardized forward-backward linguistic translation method. It was tested for validity and reliability among 469 parents and their children after obtaining informed consent. Construct validity of the measure was assessed by correlating ECOHIS score to dental caries experience (deft). For internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha was determined. A subsample of the parents repeated the ratings of the measure to enable test-retest reliability assessments.

RESULTS

Construct validity was r = 0.298. Reliability of the questionnaire was 0.873 (Cronbach's alpha), and test-retest reliability as assessed by intraclass correlation value was 0.91.

CONCLUSIONS

The Hindi version of the ECOHIS is a valid instrument for assessing OHRQoL in preschool children.