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Opinion / European Science Editing: August issue

11/10/2012 2.50pm by Linda Gough

The August issue of European Science Editing can be downloaded here (PDF, 2MB).

Opinion / COPE Chair, Virginia Barbour, discusses retractions on BBC Radio 4

5/10/2012 9.49am by Linda Gough

COPE Chair Ginny Barbour, Ivan Oransky from Retraction Watch, and Richard Van Noorden from Nature took part in a discussion on retractions on the BBC Radio 4 programme Material World (audio available).

Opinion / Research misconduct in the anaesthesiology community

28/9/2012 3.13pm by Linda Gough

Editor in chief of Anaesthesia and former COPE council member, Steve Yentis, has written three blogs on research misconduct: infamous names in anaesthesia—part one, part two and part three.

Opinion / Retraction record rocks community

20/9/2012 9.50am by Linda Gough

See report in Nature on the anaesthesiology community trying to move on after fraud investigations

Opinion / Ending honorary authorship

31/8/2012 9.49am by Linda Gough

"Credit for scientific research contributions must be clearly and appropriately assigned at the time of publication"......so begins as editorial in Science, calling for an end to honorary authorship. The articles goes on to say that "Research institutions should develop and promulgate clear statements in their research policies about the importance of upholding ethical standards of authorship". Read the full report here.

Opinion / Romanian scientists fight plagiarism

20/8/2012 3.59pm by Linda Gough

Researchers set up independent review panel after misconduct scandals hit government. See the article in Nature .

 

Opinion / Updated EASE guidelines for authors and translators of scientific articles

10/8/2012 12.45pm by Linda Gough

The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) has issued the 2012 edition of EASE Guidelines, available in 20 languages. The updated edition includes some new material, such as practical tips for junior researchers. Besides, EASE supports the global initiative Healthcare Information For All by 2015 (www.HIFA2015.org) by advising authors to make abstracts of their papers highly informative, reliable, and easily understandable.

Opinion / Scientific misconduct being taken more seriously globally?

2/8/2012 8.03am by Natalie Ridgeway

Nature discussues how scientific misconduct is now starting to be taken much more seriously worldwide.  The article states how different countries are starting to strengthen their response to scientific misconduct and that research integrity is now very much in the world's spotlight.  The UK has a [voluntary] concordat for which universities have agreed to adopt, obliging them to investigate allegations of misconduct.  A study in the US, due in 2013, is likely to call for changes in how misconduct is defined and policed by US agencies.

Opinion / Retraction Watch looks into how institutions can prevent scientific misconduct

16/7/2012 3.43pm by Natalie Ridgeway

Retraction Watch reports on a study by Donald Kornfeld, published last month in Academic Medicine where Kornfeld reviewed 146 US Office of Research integrity (ORI) cases from 1992 to 2003.  He found that approximately "1/3 of the accused were support staff, 1/3 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, and 1/3 faculty.  Accusations of fabrication represented 45% of the offenses, falsification 66%, and plagiarism 12%".  Read more here.

Opinion / Concordat to Support Research Integrity

13/7/2012 11.46am by Natalie Ridgeway

Professor Mike Farthing, vice-chair of the UK Research Integrity Office, founding chair of COPE and vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex, has written an article in the Times Higher Education on research misconduct in the UK.

Opinion / What constitutes 'self-plagiarism'?

21/5/2012 9.52am by Natalie Ridgeway

Last month, Nature News blog reported on an emminent chemist who was investigated for 'self-plagiarism' or duplicate publication.  Apparently a number of paragraphs were almost identical in a number of papers he published.  The most recent paper, published in Journal of the American Chemical Association, has since been retracted with the statement: "This article was removed by the publisher due to possible copyright concerns.

Opinion / Nature discusses proposed libel reforms in the UK

18/5/2012 3.56pm by Natalie Ridgeway

An article in Nature discusses the proposed libel reform law that was included in last week's Queen's Speech.  This legislation directly addresses the concerns of researchers and scientific groups. You can read the full article here.

Opinion / Nature Editorial on Publishing Risky Research

7/5/2012 9.28am by Ginny Barbour

There has been much discussion recently on how journals handle risky or "dual use" research - ie research that has the potential to be used for harm. A Nature Editorial (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7396/full/485005a.html) now discusses where things stand with regard to a pair of papers submitted to Science and Nature of papers reporting mammalian transmissibility of avian flu as a result of artificial genetic manipulation.

Opinion / New declaration on Publication Ethics in China

1/5/2012 10.07am by Natalie Ridgeway

Recent articles in the Scientist and Nature discuss publication ethics in China and point to a recent declaration by editors of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) to follow guidelines issued by CAST in 2009. This declaration is one part of increasing awareness of the importance of publication ethics and the need for journals within China to address the issue.

Opinion / New York Times reports on the sharp rise in retractions

19/4/2012 11.28am by Natalie Ridgeway

The NYT discusses how the sharp rise in retractions is prompting calls for reform.  Read the full article here.

Opinion / Anesthesia and Analgesia publish editorial re: Fujii Statement of Concern

21/3/2012 4.41pm by Natalie Ridgeway

Anesthesia & Analgesia have published an editorial which discusses the retraction of eight manuscripts by Dr. Yoshitaka Fujii published under the auspices of Toho University, as well as his dismissal from the university.  The editorial continues by discussing the journal's concern over papers published by Dr Fujii in Anesthesia & Analegesia - concerns which were fist highlighted to the Editors in a Letter to the Editor by Kranke, Apfel, and Roewer alleging research fraud by Dr. Fujii back in April 2000.

Opinion / New study published on retractions in biomedical papers

1/3/2012 5.09pm by Natalie Ridgeway

A new study on retractions shows that the system is effective for alerting the community to invalid work.  The Scholarly Kitchen discusses an article ("Governing knowledge in the scientific community: Exploring the role of retractions in biomedicine“ pub in Research Policy, March 2012 by, J Furman, K Jensen, and F Murray) that reports on a study of 677 article retractions identified in MEDLINE between 1972 and 2006.

Opinion / Video misconduct evidence from Japanese whistleblower

27/1/2012 9.22am by Liz Wager

According to Science, a whistleblower in Japan has posted a video on YouTube containing allegations of image manipulation.

Opinion / Brits are getting less honest

25/1/2012 4.40pm by Liz Wager

According to a survey from the Centre for the Study of Integrity, people in the UK are less honest than they were 10 years ago and younger people are more tolerant of dishonesty.

Opinion / Supervisor criticised for student who plagiarised

21/1/2012 1.31pm by Liz Wager

The US Office of Research Integrity has taken action against a researcher who committed plagiarism and his supervisor who failed to report the problem according to a report in Nature.

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