Scientists faking results and omitting unwanted findings in research

Faking results and omitting inconvenient truths in scientific research is more widespread than originally thought, a study suggests.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
The Telegraph
Jun. 22, 2009

More than two-thirds of researchers said they knew of colleagues who had committed "questionable" practices and one in seven said that included inventing findings.

But when scientists were asked about their own behaviour only two per cent admitted to having faked results.

The findings, published in the journal Public Library of Science, are based on a review of 21 scientific misconduct surveys carried out between 1986 and 2005.

The results paint a picture of a profession in which dishonesty and misrepresentation are widespread.

On average, across the surveys, around two per cent of scientists admitted they had "fabricated" (made up), "falsified" or "altered" data to "improve the outcome" at least once.

A further 34 per cent admitted to other questionable research practices including "failing to present data that contradict one's own previous research" and "dropping observations or data points from analyses based on a gut feeling that they were inaccurate."

In surveys that asked about the behaviour of colleagues, 14 per cent knew someone who had fabricated, falsified or altered data, and up to 72 per cent knew someone who had committed other questionable research practices.

Misconduct was reported most frequently by medical researchers, suggesting commercial pressures maybe putting extra pressure on them to have the right results.

Daniele Fanelli, of the University of Edinburgh, who carried out the investigation, believes that high-profile cases such as that of Hwang Woo-Suk, the South Korean scientist disgraced for fabricating human stem cell data, are less unusual than is generally assumed.

"Increasing evidence suggests that known frauds are just the tip of the iceberg and that many cases are never discovered," he said.