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Sharing, preservation and licensing: Data fabrication and fraudulent practices

We mentioned earlier that research data made available for re-use and public scrutiny maximises transparenct and accountability. It also provides safeguards against misconduct related to data fabrication and falsification.There have been a number of high profile cases involving researchers making fraudulent claims in their research:

The Cloning Scandal of Hwang Woo-Suk
"Between 2004 and 2005, Professor Hwang Woo-Suk, a highly regarded, highly funded South Korean researcher at Seoul National University, achieved international fame for his work on embryonic stem cells and the promises his findings offered.... His reputation quickly unraveled, however, and his research activities were halted when his success in somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) became mired in scandal, particularly when it emerged that many of his data on SCNT were fabricated. He lost his university position and his two important papers on embryonic stem cell research had to be retracted from the journal Science". Viewed 30 Jan 2013 From: Stem Cells: Biology, Bioethics, and Applications (Columbia University)

Doctor admits Lancet study is fiction
"A Norwegian researcher dreamed up the lives and lifestyles of some 900 people — and used them in a study on cancer. Then, last October, Jon Sudbø had his results published in The Lancet ... The latest deception was discovered by Camilla Stoltenberg, a director of epidemiology at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, who was catching up on her literature reading over Christmas. Sudbø's paper claims to analyse a public-health database and show that taking anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce the incidence of mouth cancer (J. Sudbø et al. Lancet 366, 1359–1366; 2005). "I was surprised because it refers to the Cohort of Norway, for which I am responsible," Stoltenberg says. She knew that this could not have been the source of the lifestyle data as the paper claimed. Last week, Sudbø, who is based at the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, admitted that the data had not come from that database or any other, but from thin air. 18 Jan 2006. Viewed 4 February 2013. From: Nature

Fraud Case Seen as a Red Flag for Psychology Research
A well-known psychologist in the Netherlands whose work has been published widely in professional journals falsified data and made up entire experiments, an investigating committee has found. Experts say the case exposes deep flaws in the way science is done in a field, psychology, that has only recently earned a fragile respectability ... Dr. Stapel was able to operate for so long, the committee said, in large measure because he was “lord of the data,” the only person who saw the experimental evidence that had been gathered (or fabricated). This is a widespread problem in psychology, said Jelte M. Wicherts, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam. In a recent survey, two-thirds of Dutch research psychologists said they did not make their raw data available for other researchers to see. “This is in violation of ethical rules established in the field,” Dr. Wicherts said. 2 Nov 2011. Viewed 5 February 2013. From: New York Times

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PILOT - Writing a data management plan by Edina, University of Edinburgh modified by Marion Kelt, GCU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at http://datalib.edina.ac.uk/mantra/introduction.html