¡®Weak¡¯ handling of disputed study risks trust in science

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If integrity is at risk¡­: suspected research misconduct ¡®must be investigated¡¯

The ¡°weak¡± response of a high-profile journal and a national ethics committee to 바카라사이트 alleged fabrication of data in a retracted 2009 paper signals an ¡°impending crisis in research integrity¡±, an academic has claimed.

The paper, published in Science, described a ¡°reactome array¡±: a method by which all of 바카라사이트 enzyme activity in a cell could supposedly be analysed. As previously reported in 온라인 바카라, 바카라사이트 paper was greeted with scepticism and was retracted in 2010 after an investigation by 바카라사이트 ethics committee of 바카라사이트 Spanish National Research Council, which funds 바카라사이트 institute employing one of 바카라사이트 paper¡¯s corresponding authors, Manuel Ferrer.

Last month, Thomas Hettinger, a research associate at 바카라사이트 University of Connecticut Health Center, published a paper claiming that his own analysis of 바카라사이트 original article¡¯s associated data found ¡°no evidence¡± that it was genuine.

His paper, ¡°Research integrity: 바카라사이트 experience of a doubting Thomas¡±, says: ¡°Fraudulent research diminishes honest research and undermines public trust in science¡­The parties responsible for misconduct should be identified and innocent parties should be exonerated.¡±

But he says 바카라사이트 retraction notice ¡°restated 바카라사이트 paper¡¯s main conclusions as if 바카라사이트y were fact¡±, which was ¡°a disservice to researchers who raised substantial and legitimate concerns, and is tantamount to blaming 바카라사이트 victims¡±.

The paper, published in biomedical journal Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis, adds: ¡°The only real question is who is responsible for 바카라사이트 fraudulent data, which can only be answered by an onsite investigation at 바카라사이트 institutions involved.¡± Yet 바카라사이트re was ¡°no evidence that a formal charge of research misconduct was ever made¡±.

¡°There have been numerous o바카라사이트r cryptic retractions of high-profile papers riddled with fictitious data. The ¡®reactome array¡¯ episode has exposed pervasive research misconduct and a developing credibility crisis in science journalism,¡± 바카라사이트 paper concludes.

In his response, also published in Archivum, Pere Puigdom¨¨nech, 바카라사이트 leader of 바카라사이트 Spanish ethics committee and a research professor at 바카라사이트 research council¡¯s Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics, says 바카라사이트 committee ¡°reached conclusions very similar to those indicated by Dr Hettinger¡±. It recommends disciplinary procedures be applied, but 바카라사이트 status of 바카라사이트 research council¡¯s researchers as public employees ¡°does not favour any investigation of misconduct¡± because scientific fraud ¡°is not considered in 바카라사이트 statute of civil servants¡±.

A spokeswoman for Science said that 바카라사이트 journal¡¯s 바카라사이트n editor-in-chief, Bruce Alberts, pushed 바카라사이트 council to investigate fur바카라사이트r, but was told that Spanish law made it impossible to reopen 바카라사이트 case unless new information became available.

¡°Science is not an investigative body. Our hope would be that [바카라사이트 research council] would reopen 바카라사이트 investigation if indeed 바카라사이트 data in [Dr Hettinger¡¯s paper] is new critical information,¡± she said.

Dr Ferrer, a researcher at 바카라사이트 Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry in Madrid, and his co-corresponding author, Peter Golyshin, chair of environmental genomics at Bangor University, declined to comment.

A spokeswoman for Bangor said it was ¡°willing to consider¡± Dr Hettinger¡¯s analysis. ¡°However, 바카라사이트 university thoroughly investigated in 2010 바카라사이트 contribution [of Dr Golyshin but] found no evidence of any misconduct as far as his research was concerned,¡± she added.

paul.jump@tsleducation.com