Researchers Admit to Lapses in Ethics
Fewer than 2% of 3,200 biomedical scientists surveyed acknowledge serious breaches. One in three reports at least one questionable act.
By Charles Piller, Times Staff Writer
One in three biomedical researchers has engaged in at least one practice of questionable scientific integrity, according to a survey published today in the journal Nature.
Only a small fraction of respondents — fewer than 2% — acknowledged serious lapses: plagiarism, or falsification or fabrication of data.
Lesser transgressions, however, were relatively common in the survey, which posed questions on 34 ethical issues.
Of about 3,200 scientists surveyed, 1.7% said they had used confidential information without authorization, 6% had withheld data that contradicted their findings, 12.5% had overlooked the use of flawed data or analysis by others, and 15.5% had changed the design, methodology or results of a study under pressure from a funding source.
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