Research Fraud in the Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences


Book Description

Deals with the issues of fraud in research, a subject which has appeared in the newspapers with increasing frequency of late. Includes moral and ethical aspects and legal ramifications as well as the institutional and career pressures to perform.




Fostering Integrity in Research


Book Description

The integrity of knowledge that emerges from research is based on individual and collective adherence to core values of objectivity, honesty, openness, fairness, accountability, and stewardship. Integrity in science means that the organizations in which research is conducted encourage those involved to exemplify these values in every step of the research process. Understanding the dynamics that support â€" or distort â€" practices that uphold the integrity of research by all participants ensures that the research enterprise advances knowledge. The 1992 report Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process evaluated issues related to scientific responsibility and the conduct of research. It provided a valuable service in describing and analyzing a very complicated set of issues, and has served as a crucial basis for thinking about research integrity for more than two decades. However, as experience has accumulated with various forms of research misconduct, detrimental research practices, and other forms of misconduct, as subsequent empirical research has revealed more about the nature of scientific misconduct, and because technological and social changes have altered the environment in which science is conducted, it is clear that the framework established more than two decades ago needs to be updated. Responsible Science served as a valuable benchmark to set the context for this most recent analysis and to help guide the committee's thought process. Fostering Integrity in Research identifies best practices in research and recommends practical options for discouraging and addressing research misconduct and detrimental research practices.




The Economics of Scientific Misconduct


Book Description

The Economics of Scientific Misconduct explores episodes of misconduct in the natural and biomedical sciences and replication failure in economics and psychology over the past half-century. Here scientific misconduct is considered from the perspective of a single discipline such as economics likely for the first time in intellectual history. Research misconduct has become an important concern across many natural, medical, and social sciences, including economics, over the past half-century. Initially, a mainstream economic approach to science and scientific misconduct draws from conventional microeconomics and the theories of Becker, Ehrlich, and C. S. Peirce’s "economy of research." Then the works of Peirce and Thorstein Veblen from the 19th century point toward contemporary debates over statistical inference in econometrics and the failure of recent macroeconomic models. In more contemporary economics, clashes regarding discrimination and harassment have led to a Code of Professional Conduct from the American Economic Association and a Code of Ethics from one of its members. The last chapter considers research ethics matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been an explosion of research and some retractions. More generally, a concern with research ethics contributes to scientific progress by making some of its most difficult problems more transparent and understandable and thus possibly more surmountable. This book offers valuable insights for students and scholars of research ethics across the sciences, philosophy of science and social science, and economic theory.




Fraud and Misconduct in Research


Book Description

In Fraud and Misconduct in Research, Nachman Ben-Yehuda and Amalya Oliver-Lumerman introduce the main characteristics of research misconduct, portray how the characteristics are distributed, and identify the elements of the organizational context and the practice of scientific research which enable or deter misconduct. Of the nearly 750 known cases between 1880 and 2010 which the authors examine, the overwhelming majority took place in funded research projects and involved falsification and fabrication, followed by misrepresentation and plagiarism. The incidents were often reported by the perpetrator’s colleagues or collaborators. If the accusations were confirmed, the organization usually punished the offender with temporary exclusion from academic activities and institutions launched organizational reforms, including new rules, the establishment of offices to deal with misconduct, and the creation of re-training and education programs for academic staff. Ben-Yehuda and Oliver-Lumerman suggest ways in which efforts to expose and prevent misconduct can further change the work of scientists, universities, and scientific research.




Science, Technology, and Society


Book Description

Emphasizing an interdisciplinary and international coverage of the functions and effects of science and technology in society and culture, Science, Technology, and Society contains over 130 A to Z signed articles written by major scholars and experts from academic and scientific institutions and institutes worldwide. Each article is accompanied by a selected bibliography. Other features include extensive cross referencing throughout, a directory of contributors, and an extensive topical index.




National Intelligence and Science


Book Description

Intelligence is currently facing increasingly challenging cross-pressures from both a need for accurate and timely assessments of potential or imminent security threats and the unpredictability of many of these emerging threats. The essence of intelligence is no longer the collection, analysis, and dissemination of secret information, but has become instead the management of uncertainty in areas critical for overriding security goals.




Against Their Will


Book Description

During the Cold War, an alliance between American scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and the US military pushed the medical establishment into ethically fraught territory. Doctors and scientists at prestigious institutions were pressured to produce medical advances to compete with the perceived threats coming from the Soviet Union. In Against Their Will, authors Allen Hornblum, Judith Newman, and Gregory Dober reveal the little-known history of unethical and dangerous medical experimentation on children in the United States. Through rare interviews and the personal correspondence of renowned medical investigators, they document how children—both normal and those termed "feebleminded"—from infants to teenagers, became human research subjects in terrifying experiments. They were drafted as "volunteers" to test vaccines, doused with ringworm, subjected to electric shock, and given lobotomies. They were also fed radioactive isotopes and exposed to chemical warfare agents. This groundbreaking book shows how institutional superintendents influenced by eugenics often turned these children over to scientific researchers without a second thought. Based on years of archival work and numerous interviews with both scientific researchers and former test subjects, this is a fascinating and disturbing look at the dark underbelly of American medical history.




Medical Writing and Research Methodology for the Orthopaedic Surgeon


Book Description

This unique guide is designed to facilitate the complex task of getting a paper published in an orthopaedics journal. The editors have enlisted expert orthopaedic surgeons from prestigious academic institutions, who share essential advice on how to set up and write on your research. The book addresses fraud issues, the correct use of English and editing, how to develop a sound research methodology, and editors’ and reviewers’ expectations, along with the main reasons for rejection. The future of the Impact Factor, altmetrics and Open Access journals are also discussed, and will be of special interest to young faculty who are starting their research career. The chapters are structured in a reproducible and easy-to-follow format. In addition, the editors offer tips and tricks for non-native speakers writing in English. As such, the book provides an accessible and comprehensive resource for all those seeking guidance on how to publish their research work in the field of orthopaedics.




Surgical Ethics


Book Description

The first textbook on the subject, this is a practical, clinically comprehensive guide to ethical issues in surgical practice, research, and education written by some of the most prominent figures in the fields of surgery and bioethics. Discussions of informed consent, confidentiality, and advance directives--core concepts integral to every surgeon-patient relationship--open the volume. Seven chapters tackle the ethical issues in surgical practice, covering the full range of surgical patients--from emergency, acute, high-risk, and elective patients, to poor surgical risk and dying patients. The book even considers the special relationship between the surgeon and patients who are family members or friends. Chapters on surgical research and education address innovation, self-regulation in practice and research, and the prevention of unwarranted bias. Two chapters focus on the multidisciplinary nature of surgery, including the relationships between surgery and other medical specialties and the obligations of the surgeon to other members of the surgical team. The economic dimensions of surgery, especially within managed care, are addressed in chapters on the surgeons financial relationships with patients, conflicts of interest, and relationships with payers and institutions. The authors do not engage in abstract discussions of ethical theory; instead, their discussions are always directly relevant to the everyday concerns of practicing surgeons. This well-integrated volume is intended for practicing surgeons, medical educators, surgical residents, bioethicists, and medical students.




Fundamentals of Behavior Analytic Research


Book Description

By the end of his long life, B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) had become one of the most influential and best known of psychologists (Gilgen, 1982; Heyduke & Fenigstein, 1984). An important feature of the approach to the study of behavior that he championed, behavior analysis, is the intensive study of individual subjects over time. This approach, which is characterized by the use of within-subject experimental designs, repeated and direct measures of behavior, and graphic analysis of data, stands in marked contrast to the research methods favored by many nonbehavioral psychologists. Skinner discussed the advantages of his approach in a number of books (e.g., Skinner, 1938, 1953, 1979), but never devoted a book to methodology. Sidman (1960) and Johnson and Pennypack (1993b) did devote books to behavior analytic research methodology. These books are of excep tionally high quality and should be read carefully by anyone interested in behavior analysis. They are sophisticated, however, and are not easy reads for most neophyte behaviorists. Introductory-level books devoted entirely to methods of applied behavior analysis (e.g., Kazdin, 1982; Barlow & Hersen, 1984) are easier to understand, but somewhat limited in coverage.