Every researcher in the Netherlands is to be questioned about whether they have committed research misconduct or engaged in “sloppy science” as part of a major national effort to bolster scientific standards.
In response to rising concerns over a “reproducibility crisis” in science and a series of high-profile fraud cases in the Netherlands, the country is to commit 8 million euros ($9 million) to understanding the problem, finding solutions and trying to reproduce critical studies.
Lex Bouter, professor of methodology and integrity at VU Amsterdam and one of the driving forces behind the initiative, said that in the Netherlands “during the past 10 years we had three to four really serious wake-up calls” about scientific misconduct.