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Animal Ethics Biosafety Human Research Ethics Research Integrity

(Australia) Australia needs an Office for Research Integrity to catch up with the rest of the world – The Conversation (David Vaux | February 2022)

Posted by Dr Gary Allen in Research Integrity on February 9, 2022
Keywords: Australia, Institutional responsibilities, Research Misconduct, Research results

The Linked Original Item was Posted On February 3, 2022

A man in a hood with a pistol in our face.

The Swedish government established a national Research Misconduct Board in 2020, after concluding institutions couldn’t be trusted to investigate allegations of serious research misconduct themselves. This followed botched investigations into the conduct of surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who transplanted experimental artificial tracheas into 20 patients, 17 of whom later died. His employer, the Karolinska Institute, had initially cleared him. Later independent investigations found he had committed misconduct.

Australia desperately needs such a body.  The current system of institutions internally investigating allegations of misconduct by their own researchers then deciding what to publish about an investigation and then how long the report will be available to the public is utterly useless.  We need a change!  Institutions have an intolerable conflict of interest where concerns about reputation, politics and funding take precedence over the integrity of science, transparency and using the handling of cases to inform national best practice. The AHRECS team have recently observed poor institutional behaviour.  We suggest funding bodies face their own political and reputational problems.  We have included links to 15 related items.

Ultimately, both the vice chancellor and dean of research at the institute lost their jobs. The secretary-general of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska, which issues the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, also resigned. The government dismissed the entire university board. But Macchiarini’s patients paid the heaviest price.

Sweden is just the most recent of more than 20 European nations that have national offices for research integrity. So do the UK, US, Canada, Japan and China. Australia, which still lacks an Office for Research Integrity, is being left behind.

Multiple recent reports of allegations of research fraud in Australia show the urgent need for an independent national regulator.

How does Australia handle research misconduct?

Australia’s system for handling allegations of research misconduct resembles the one Sweden abandoned. We persist with a self-regulation model. Yet royal commission after royal commission has shown self-regulation does not work in the financial sector, with institutions that care for children, or for police forces.

Research in Australia funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) or the Australian Research Council (ARC) must comply with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

Australia needs an Office for Research Integrity to catch up with the rest of the world
Australian scientists are no more honest or dishonest than those in other countries that have national bodies to investigate research fraud. We have a sport integrity watchdog but not one for research.

Related Reading

(Australia) Suspected fraud cases prompt calls for research integrity watchdog – WA Today (Harriet Alexander | December 2021)

(Sweden) Swedish research misconduct agency swamped with cases in first year – Nature (Holly Else | September 2021)

(Peru) Scandal over COVID vaccine trial at Peruvian universities prompts outrage – Nature (Luke Taylor | March 2021)

Toward global standardization of conducting fair investigations of allegations of research misconduct (Papers: Rei Nouchi, et al | May 2020)

Scandal-weary Swedish government takes over research-fraud investigations – Nature (Holly Else | July 2019)

Make reports of research misconduct public – Nature (C. K. Gunsalus | June 2019)

“Our current approaches are not working:” Time to make misconduct investigation reports public, says integrity expert – Retraction Watch (Ivan Oransky | June 2019)

Complainant anonymity in misconduct proceedings depends on the forum

Austrian agency shows how to tackle scientific misconduct – Nature (Editorial | September 2018)

(UK) British universities fail at research integrity self-regulation – Nature INDEX (Dalmeet Singh Chawla | July 2018)

(UK) UK House of Commons committee wants to make sure “university investigations into research misconduct are handled appropriately” – Retraction Watch (C. K. Gunsalus | July 2018)

(UK) We need more investigations into research misconduct – The Guardian (Norman Lamb MP | July 2018)

Institutional Research Misconduct Reports Need More Credibility (Papers: C.K. Gunsalus, JD, et al | 2018)

Academic misconduct claims: Fresh call for national body – The Australian (Darragh O’Keefe | October 2016)

Denmark and Sweden take another look at how they investigate scientific misconduct – ScienceNordic (Catherine Jex 2016)

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