Tag Archives: integrity

Whistleblower update

27.05.2023 admin

Der Schutz von Whistleblower sollte eigentlich nach Willen der EU besser werden. Aber nach unendlichen Verzögerungen, zuletzt vor dem Vermittlungsausschuss des Bundestages, ist es damit nicht weit her, wenn nicht mal mehr anonyme Hinweise möglich sind. Einziger Trost: auch woanders nur”talk, no action”.
So wird das deutsche Gesetz wohl bald wieder einkassiert werden, das meint nicht nur Transparency Deutschland

Leider muss man in aller Deutlichkeit sagen: Der vorliegende Gesetzentwurf zum Schutz von Hinweisgeber:innen ist ein Fiasko. Die Bundesregierung muss dringend nachbessern, denn in der vorliegenden Form brächte das Gesetz neue Rechtsunsicherheiten für Whistleblower:innen, Unternehmen und Behörden. Anstatt den klaren Vorgaben und Empfehlungen der EU zu folgen, hat die Bundesregierung Stückwerk vorgelegt.

Philosophy

Foreign talents

26.05.2023 admin

While I came across this program only in the He Jiankui case the NIH director is writing now about the Chinese talent recruitment program

Many NIH cases of grant policy violations involve activities in China and scientists of Chinese origin, raising concerns about racial, ethnic, or political targeting. The disproportionate share may be related to the extensive reach of Chinese talent recruitment programs, which explicitly state preferences for ethnic Chinese scientists. NIH compliance reviews abide by the same procedures for all scientists irrespective of their demographics, and the inquiries include cases involving countries other than China.

while we should not blame the Chinese culture but individual behaviour.

Philosophy

Deviation from preregistration

15.03.2023 admin

I know tons of papers that deviate from their initial plan, but I am not aware of so many papers where this can be unequivocally found by comparing pre-registration and publication.

It has been mentioned recently and there seems also a formal analysis in the literature

We observed deviations from the plan in all studies, and, more importantly, in all but one study, at least one of these deviations was not fully disclosed.

Further research required,

Philosophy

Why research integrity matters

15.03.2023 admin

A new paper by Lex Bouter clearly shows

Scholars need to be able to trust each other, because otherwise they cannot collaborate and use each other’s findings. Similarly trust is essential for research to be applied for individuals, society or the natural environment. The trustworthiness is threatened when researchers engage in questionable research practices or worse.

Joke

The ass is dominant over the head

26.02.2023 admin

This is a citation from the 2022 Faintuch book “Integrity of Scientific Research” at page 137. “Fraud, Misconduct, and Unethical Practices in Biomedical Research in China” by Lei and Qiu covers close collaborations between scientists and industry which is now standard in most universities and research centers

“The ass is dominant over the head” (pigu jueding naodai) … which means that a persons’s decision is made by her/his position. Faced with conflicts of interests, scientists tend to consider more their own or the company’s interests when they have close interaction with this company, This is why research must be regulated and supervised by regulatory bodies.

Philosophy

Systemic science flaw

8.01.2023 admin

Bruce Alberts, one of the most reputable living scientist, already back in a 2014 PNAS paper

The long-held but erroneous assumption of never-ending rapid growth in biomedical science has created an unsustainable hypercompetitive system that is discouraging even the most outstanding prospective students from entering our profession—and making it difficult for seasoned investigators to produce their best work…

The great majority of biomedical research is conducted by aspiring trainees: by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. As a result, most successful biomedical scientists train far more scientists than are needed to replace him- or herself…

Competition in pursuit of experimental objectives has always been a part of the scientific enterprise, and it can have positive effects. However, hypercompetition for the resources and positions that are required to conduct science suppresses the creativity, cooperation, risk-taking, and original thinking required to make fundamental discoveries…

The inflated value given to publishing in a small number of so-called “high impact” journals has put pressure on authors to rush into print, cut corners, exaggerate their findings, and overstate the significance of their work.

there is nothing to add.

Noteworthy, Philosophy

Integrity of scientific research

10.12.2022 admin

I have a new book on my desk that covers most aspects of the recent discussion around research integrity in 60 chapters arranged in 14 sections.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-99680-2

It is a comprehensive overview of research integrity across disciplines. Maybe some chapters are not written by the leading experts in the field. And maybe the scope is super-broad with several off topic chapters like corruption in healthcare or repetitive texts in subdisciplines like dental care. Unfortunately this comes at the cost that other chapters like image integrity are completely missing, while even PubPeer is not mentioned in the appendix. Also a keyword index would be nice. Nevertheless it is the largest body of text so far and should be on every desk that deals with science integrity. There are numerous highlights that cannot be found anywhere else like a comprehensive list of all paper rejection statements (p 412). So I will have to read it again next year.

Philosophy, Software

Deep fake image fraud

14.06.2022 admin

Doing now another image integrity study, I fear that we may already have the deep fake images in current scientific papers. Never spotted any in the wild which doesn’t mean that it does not exist…

Here are some T cells that I produced this morning.

https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini

Continue reading Deep fake image fraud →

Allergy, Genetics

The Lancet and scientific integrity

21.04.2022 admin

We have learned in the past that the Lancet published editorials that clearly separated the journal from the publisher Elsevier

Reed Elsevier’s response is that the sale of military equipment is legal, government supported, and tightly regulated. However, The Lancet‘s collaborations in child survival and health-systems strengthening, for example, risk being tainted by Reed Elsevier’s promotion of the “selling process” of arms.

Of course you can’t sell weapons and distance yourself from selling weapons at the same time…

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Philosophy

Good scientists doing wrong

2.03.2022 admin

There is an interesting study “When Good People Break Bad: Moral Impression Violations in Everyday Life” by the Canadian PhD student Kate Guan and her advisor Steven Heine. It is a phenomenon that is annoying many people if we look at the reactions to Twitter posts und PubPeer entries accusing scientists of wrong doing. The paper provides some explanations Continue reading Good scientists doing wrong →

Joke, Philosophy

It’s all too much

13.01.2022 admin

Charles Day in Physics Today (which is already my view in biomedicine 5 years ago)

Their main conclusion is sobering: As the number of papers in a field increases, researchers find it harder to recognize innovative work. Progress seems to be slowing.

Joke

How to buy papers

10.01.2022 admin

It is incredible – but probably some kind of advanced fee scam only.

https://twitter.com/ronepz/status/1480035059046313991 Screenshot 10.1.2022 while I can’ t verify the original Facebook post

500€ would be clear bargain compared to the 9500€ that you have to pay here

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03324-y Screenshot 10.1.2022

although there is a surplus of 6000€ for the science writer at fiverr and another 50,000€ lab funding to one of the numerous “science charities” and “patient alliances”.

Philosophy

Crossmarks

2.01.2012 admin

Papers are not sacred – this what I have been advocating even after having personal distress after commenting on a PLoS ONE paper. Nevertheless, the new Nature editorial supports my view

What is needed, instead, is a system of publication that is more meritocratic in its evaluation of performance and productivity in the sciences. It should expand the record of a scientific study past an individual paper, including additional material such as worthy blog posts about the results, media coverage and the number of times that the paper has been downloaded.

where Crossmark may jump in Continue reading Crossmarks →