research misconduct: know it to avoid it...3 5 • you will learn – basic concepts and definitions...

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Presented by:Mary Nishikawa, MA, ELS

Editor and Trainer, AcademiaCactus Communications K.K.

Research misconduct:Know it to avoid it

Lecturer Introduction

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Understanding the concerns researchers andacademics have and helping them publish intop SCI journals such as Science and Cell

Mary NishikawaBoard Certified EditorTrainer, AcademiaOver 25 years of experience in the review,editing, and rewriting of biomedicalresearch reports

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• The contents of which you are about to hear on researchmisconduct, is only provided for illustrative purposes, and isby no means, an all-inclusive treatment of the subject

• The trainer or the company of which she represents assumesno responsibility in providing complete coverage;interpretations should be assumed to be of a personal natureand not an official statement of rules and regulations, unlessexplicitly quoted from official guidelines

• Please refer to official guidelines described herein for a moreinclusive treatment on the subject

DISCLAIMER

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• This workshop is intended to help create a work

environment in which you can discuss ethical

issues in research and publishing, whenever you

need to

OBJECTIVE

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• You will learn

– Basic concepts and definitions

– How to keep research misconduct in check

– About recent troubles (paper retractions)

– How misconduct is detected

Specifically,

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Have you ever comeacross bad behavior?

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If you have, you are not alone…

Phot

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edit:

US

Arm

y(F

lickr

)

Hofmann et al. BMC Medical Ethics 2013, 14:3.http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6939/14/3

Questions to ask

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1. What is research misconduct?

2. What are questionable research practices?

3. What are some recent troubles?

4. How can we keep research misconduct in check?

5. How do the ORI and journals detect research

misconduct?

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1. What is research misconduct?

The US Office of Science and Technology Policy

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Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy. On Being a Scientist: A Guide toResponsible Conduct in Research. Third Edition. The National Academies Press, Washington,D.C.; 2009

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12192/on-being-a-scientist-a-guide-to-responsible-conduct-in

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What is fabrication?

• Word origin – fabricatus (Latin)– To make, construct or build http://www.etymonline.com/

• Fabrication is ‘Making up data or results.’ ”

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Fabricating survey responses of a non-existent person

You’ve gotmany greatresponses.

Oh yes, what Ireally needed.

If he onlyknew…

What is falsification?

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• Word origin – Falsus (Latin)– To deceive, to pretend http://www.etymonline.com/

• “Falsification is ‘Manipulating of research materials,equipment or processes, or changing or omitting dataor results that research is not accurately represented inthe research record.’ ”


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Falsifying an image

What a greatimage of cells! It only took

an hour!

PhotoshopWorks

wonders!

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Dot removed, particles enhanced

©The NIH Catalyst. Rossner M and Yamada K. WHAT'S IN A PICTURE? THETEMPTATION OF IMAGE MANIPULATION VOLUME 12, ISSUE 3, MAY–JUNE2004.

http://www.nih.gov/catalyst/2004/04.05.01/page4.html

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What is plagiarism?

• Word origin– plaga (Latin), snare, hunting net; plagiare (Latin) to

kidnap; http://www.etymonline.com/

• Plagiarism is ‘the appropriation of anotherperson’s ideas, processes, results or wordswithout giving appropriate credit.’ ”

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PlagiarismYou writing

skills have reallyimproved! Thanks to you!

Thanks toDr. Smith’s

report!

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Potential plagiarism in Methods“Reusing” one’s own words from

an earlier paper

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Plagiarismtroubles!

Reusing one’s own methods

• “The procedure forharvesting cells was asfollows: 1…., 2… , 3….”Description published inElsevier journal (copyrightholder)

• “The procedure forharvesting cells was asfollows: 1…., 2… , 3….”Submission to Wiley-Blackwell journal

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Paraphrase your own wordsfrom a previously publishedreport

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• Para (altered) phrase (way ofspeaking or writing

• You do not use the samesentence structure

• You may use some of the samewords, but not others

• You can make the sentencesimpler or more complex

What’s aparaphrase?

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Paraphrased

“ We followed the procedure forharvesting cells as described earlier.(1) In summary, the steps involved a…., b… , and c….” Submission toWiley-Blackwell journal

Original

“The procedure for harvestingcells was as follows: 1…., 2… ,3….” Description published inElsevier journal (copyrightholder)

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Redundant (or duplicate) publication

• “(Self-plagiarism’ or ‘text recycling’) shouldgenerally be avoided”

• Possible exceptions– Descriptions of study methods or data sources

• Check the copyright; if it was transferred to the publisher, getpermission

• If you do use it, you will need to identify the original sourceand mention that it is a duplicate

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Battisti WP et al. Good Publication Practice for Communicating Company-SponsoredMedical Research: GPP3. Ann Intern Med. doi:10.7326/M15-0288http://www.ismpp.org/gpp3

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Plagiarism in Methods“Reusing” published methodsof other research groups

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Original

The study was a “quasi-

experimental design, where

classrooms, rather than

students, were randomly

assigned to conditions.”

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Let’s use this sentence in

our paper. I have no idea

how to reword this.

Sage Open April-June 2012: 1-9 ©Mott SMet al. 2012 DOI: 10.1177/2158244012445585

What’s the problem?

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Paraphrase and cite

Original

The study was a “quasi-

experimental design, where

classrooms, rather than

students, were randomly

assigned to conditions.”

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Paraphrased

We followed the study

design of Mott et al. (2012),

in which we randomized

classrooms in blocks but did

not randomize students,

individually.Sage Open April-June 2012: 1-9 ©Mott SMet al. 2012 DOI: 10.1177/2158244012445585

Avoid plagiarizing the methods of others!

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When you have trouble paraphrasing use

"Methods have been described indetail elsewhere.1"

and cite earlier paper.

Avoidplagiarism!

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Remember…

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2. What are questionableresearch practices?

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s

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• Omitting outliers

• Inappropriate research design or

test statistic

• Conflict of interest

• Questionable authorship

What are some QRPs?

Custers R. Research misconduct – The grey area ofQuestionable Research Practices. 30 Sep 2013.

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Leaving out anomalous results (outliers)

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What was the purpose?

Was the purposeto manipulatethe data andmisrepresent theresearch ?

• Deleting an entiredata set

• Removing anoutlier

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But it was only one data point!Ph

oto

cred

it: U

SAr

my

(Flic

kr)


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Questionable research design or test statistic

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What was the purpose?

Was the purposeto manipulatethe data andmisrepresent theresearch ?

• Selecting a designor statistical testthat might not havebeen appropriatefor the study

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But I wasn’t getting statistical significance!Ph

oto

cred

it: U

SAr

my

(Flic

kr)


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Conflict of interest (disclosures)

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NOTHINGTO DECLARE

Potential Conflicts of Interest (COI)

“A conflict of interest exists when professional judgment

concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or the

validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest

(such as financial gain). Perceptions of conflict of interest are as

important as actual conflicts of interest.” – ICMJE (International

Committee of Medical Journal editors)

http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/author-responsibilities--conflicts-of-interest.html

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Items to disclose: Financial (ICMJE)

• Employment• Consultancies• Stock ownership or options• Honoraria• Patents• Paid expert testimony


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Items to disclose: Nonfinancial (ICMJE)

“However, conflicts can occur for other reasons,

such as personal relationships or rivalries, academic

competition, and intellectual beliefs.”


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Authorship issues

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• Gift authors

• Ghost authors

• Ordering of names

Authorship

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Art credit: Ngoc Ha (Flickr)

• Who is an author?

• Who is not an author?

• Once we have decided who should

be included, how do we order the

names?

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Who is an author? (ICMJE criteria)

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based onthe following 4 criteria.• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or

the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectualcontent; AND

• Final approval of the version to be published; AND

• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuringthat questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of thework are appropriately investigated and resolved.

– http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html#two

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• Authorship should not be a gift or reward for service

• Work that does not qualify for authorship– Subject enrollment– data acquisition– technical assistance– funding acquisition– Supervision of research– Heading of department conducting the research

Who is not an author? (GPP3 criteria)1

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1Ann Intern Med. doi:10.7326/M15-0288http://www.ismpp.org/gpp3

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Ordering of names

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Phot

o cr

edit:

US

Arm

y(F

lickr

)


• “Authors are listed in order of lead and second author,based on their contributions”

• “With subsequent authors listed in alphabetical order”

Suggestion for ordering of authors (GPP3)1

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1Ann Intern Med. doi:10.7326/M15-0288http://www.ismpp.org/gpp3

Remember, authors must meetICMJE criteria for authorship

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Remember…

sYour reputation may depend on them!

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4. What are some recenttroubles?

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Datairregularities

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Fabrication and Falsification

• The paper “described the directed conversion of skinfibroblasts from unaffected individuals or familiarAlzheimer’s disease patients into human inducedneuronal cells.”

• “Dr. Ryousuke Fujita… has acknowledged inappropriatelymanipulating image panels and data points, as well asmisrepresenting the number of repeats performed…”

http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(11)00764-1

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Cell Paper retracted in 2015

Ryousuke Fujita

http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(11)00764-1

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151530/

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Survey data unavailable, statistical irregularities

“Science with the concurrence of author Donald P. Green isretracting the 12 December 2014 report “When contactchanges minds: An experiment on transmission of support forgay equality” by LaCour and Green.”

– Independent researchers noticed statistical irregularities

– “LaCour has not produced the original survey data from whichsomeone else could independently confirm the validity of thereported findings”

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6239/1100.2

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Science paper retracted in 2015

Peer review andauthorshipmisconduct

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Manipulated peer reviews

It was reported that

• Khalid Zahman recommended fake reviewers

• Reviewers were “unusually kind”

• Article was accepted based on the faked reviewer report

http://retractionwatch.com/2014/12/19/elsevier-retracting-16-papers-faked-peer-review/

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Elsevier retracts 16 papers!

Economic modelingRenewable Energy Renewable and SustainableEnergy Reviews

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Peer review and authorship misconduct

It was reported that

• Peter Chen manipulated ScholarOne online submission

system

– Recommended fake reviewers

– Reviewed own paper

– Added a distinguished author without the author’s

permission

http://retractionwatch.com/2014/07/08/sage-publications-busts-peer-review-and-citation-ring-60-papers-retracted/

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Sage retracts 60 papers!

Retraction Watch. SAGE Publications busts “peer review citation ring,” 60 papersretracted. http://retractionwatch.com/2014/07/08/sage-publications-busts-peer-review-and-citation-ring-60-papers-retracted/

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Legal troublesfrom misconduct

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Former Novartis employee arrested

As reported in The Lancet,• Shirahashi “allegedly altered charts comparing the frequency of

stroke in trial participants who were given Diovan and otherhypertension drugs, before submitting the falsified data to theKyoto researchers.”– He faces up to 2 years in prison– Possible fine of JPY 2 million

McCurry J. Former Novartis employee arrested over valsartan data. The Lancet. 201 Vol 383June 21: World News. http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(14)61015-1.pdf

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Remember…

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5. How can we keep researchmisconduct in check?

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Follow guidelines, monitorinventories, and audit processes

• US Federal Policy– http://www.aps.org/policy/statements/federalpol

icy.cfm• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

– http://www.icmje.org/• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

– http://publicationethics.org/resources• GPP3

– http://www.ismpp.org/gpp3

Follow guidelines

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Communicate with each other, atall levels Did you

dry, photograph,and storethe gel?

Of course,barcoded and

all!

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Systematically label and archive

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http://jcb-dataviewer.rupress.org/jcb/browse/2859/5525/

Repository provided by a journal

• National Institute of Informatics (NII) provides

– platforms and portal services– Statistical analysis of Japanese Institutional

Repositories databases• 495 Institutions https://www.nii.ac.jp/irp/en/list/• Over 2 million records (as of 2015/09/04)

http://irdb.nii.ac.jp/analysis/index_e.php

Archiving in JAPAN

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3.3% are data or datasets

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Manage physical anddigital materials

properly to preventmisconduct

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5. How do the ORI and journalsdetect research misconduct?

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What is the ORI?

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• Office of Research Integrity “oversees and directs PublicHealth Service (PHS) research integrity on behalf of the of theSecretary of Health and Human Services with the exception ofthe regulatory research integrity activities of the Food andDrug Administration” in the USA https://ori.hhs.gov/about-ori

• You may say, I don’t apply for PHS research grants so why do Ineed to know about the ORI!– The ORI provides tools to publishers to detect research

misconduct http://ori.hhs.gov/plagiarism-tools

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Forensic tools of the ORI

http://ori.hhs.gov/plagiarism-tools

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• Tool detects non-uniformly distributednumerical patterns

• Check of Excel– Macros that intentionally manipulates data

– Hidden numbers

ORI Analyzing fake data

Newman A. The art of detecting data and image manipulation. Editors Update 2013 Issue 41.Available from: http://editorsupdate.elsevier.com

ORI detecting manipulated images

• Adobe Photoshop add-ins– Forensic Droplets (changes in shading,

additions or deletions)– Forensic Actions (show history of changes)

• Adobe Bridge (sequential versions)• Image J (NIH tool)• PowerPoint “reset picture” tool shows

underlying images

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Newman A. The art of detecting data and image manipulation. Editors Update 2013 Issue 41.Available from: http://editorsupdate.elsevier.com

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A few more cells, or bands added and removed

©The NIH Catalyst. Rossner M and Yamada K. WHAT'S IN A PICTURE? THETEMPTATION OF IMAGE MANIPULATION VOLUME 12, ISSUE 3, MAY–JUNE2004.

http://www.nih.gov/catalyst/2004/04.05.01/page4.html

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Déjà vu: A database of highly similar citations

identified by text similarity engine, eTBLAST

ORI detecting plagiarism

http://ori.hhs.gov/plagiarism-tools

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Journals Detect plagiarism

http://www.crossref.org/crosscheck/crosscheck_for_researchers.html

cross checkPowered by iThenticate

Summary

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Take home message

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Prevent research misconduct– Establish good laboratory and

writing practices

• Hofmann et al. Scientific dishonesty—a nationwide survey of doctoralstudents in Norway. BMC Medical Ethics 2013, 14:3.http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6939/14/3

• Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy. On Being a Scientist: AGuide to Responsible Conduct in Research. Third Edition. The NationalAcademies Press, Washington, D.C.; 2009

• Custers R. Research misconduct – The grey area of Questionable ResearchPractices. 30 Sep 2013. Available fromhttp://www.vib.be/en/news/Pages/Research-misconduct---The-grey-area-of-Questionable-Research-Practices.aspx

• Rossner M and Yamada K. The NIH Catalyst. WHAT'S IN A PICTURE? THETEMPTATION OF IMAGE MANIPULATION. VOLUME 12, ISSUE 3, MAY–JUNE2004.

References

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• Retraction Watch. Elsevier retracting 16 papers for faked peer reviewhttp://retractionwatch.com/2014/12/19/elsevier-retracting-16-papers-faked-peer-review/

• Retraction Watch. Former Columbia postdoc faked Alzheimer’s research inCell and Nature. http://retractionwatch.com/2015/04/07/former-columbia-postdoc-faked-alzheimers-research-in-cell-and-nature/

• Retraction Watch. SAGE Publications busts “peer review citation ring,” 60papers retracted. http://retractionwatch.com/2014/07/08/sage-publications-busts-peer-review-and-citation-ring-60-papers-retracted/

• McNutt M. Retraction of LaCour and Green, Science 346 (6215) 1366-1369.Published Online May 28 2015. Science 5 June 2015: Vol. 348 no. 6239 p.1100. DOI: 10.1126/science.aac6638. Available from:http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6239/1100.2

References

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• McCurry J. Former Novartis employee arrested over valsartan data. The Lancet.201 Vol 383 June 21: World News.http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(14)61015-1.pdf

• Newman A. The art of detecting data and image manipulation. Editors Update2013 Issue 41. Available from: http://editorsupdate.elsevier.com/issue-41-november-2013/the-art-of-detecting-data-and-image-manipulation/

• Battisti WP et al. Good Publication Practice for Communicating Company-Sponsored Medical Research: GPP3. Ann Intern Med. doi:10.7326/M15-0288http://www.ismpp.org/gpp3

• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for theConduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in MedicalJournals. 2015. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

References

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Contact Details

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Dr. EddyTM personifies our efforts to support authors with good publication practices.He can be found at Editage Insights http://www.editage.com/insights/tutorials

Mary Nishikawa, MA, ELSBoard Certified Editor in the Life SciencesTrainer in Academic [email protected] Communications K.K.

Japan: www.editage.jpFor more learning resources, visitwww.editage.com/insights

research misconduct: know it to avoid it...3 5 • you will learn – basic concepts and definitions...

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