British science needs 'integrity overhaul’ : Nature News & Comment

British scientists are fundamentally failing to deal with research misconduct, which is widespread in the country, leading experts have warned.

At a conference in London yesterday, participants were united in calling for more action on the issue.

...Coinciding with the meeting, a BMJ survey of 2,782 doctors and medical academics showed that 13% claimed to have firsthand knowledge of “inappropriately adjusting, excluding, altering or fabricating data”. Six per cent said that they were aware of cases of possible research misconduct at their institutions that they thought had not been properly investigated....Elizabeth Wager, chairwoman of the international Committee on Publication Ethics, warned the meeting that one US editor had told her that UK institutions are the worst to deal with in cases of suspected misconduct. “Our reputation in the world is not looking good,” she said.

She added that although the concern is being driven mainly by medical researchers, their worries apply to other scientific fields.

...Peter Wilmshurst, a cardiologist who is well known for exposing research misconduct, told the meeting that the gains are high and the risks low for would-be cheats as long as institutions refuse to deal with such problems.

“Dishonesty is common and institutionalized in medicine and medical research,” he said.

Wilmshurst also related a joke about the three ‘F’s in research integrity: Fabrication, Falsification and Honesty. There is, he said, “no 'F'-in honesty.”