Independent bodies – not universities – should investigate suspicions of scientific misconduct, says Matthias Egger.
I was sitting next to Agneta Bladh, the chair of the Swedish Research Council, when the conversation over dinner turned to the case of Paolo Macchiarini. You may have heard of the Swiss-born, Italian ‘star surgeon’, who after several investigations was found guilty of scientific misconduct in June 2018 and dismissed from the Karolinska Institutet near Stockholm.
Food for thought for those of us who reside in countries (e.g. Australia and New Zealand) where universities/research institutions conduct their own research misconduct investigations (with the perceived conflicts of interest that raises)
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The story makes sobering reading. All three patients who received a transplant in Sweden died. Macchiarini was cleared of research misconduct in 2015, with The Lancet defending him in an editorial. Events came to a head a year later after the nationwide screening of a series (‘The Experiments’) by filmmaker Bosse Lindquist, which provoked a massive response and a crisis of confidence at the Karolinska Institutet. A slew of resignations followed: the Vice-Chancellor, the dean of research and the chair of the university board, and investigations were re-opened. In June 2018, the University found Macchiarini and six others guilty of scientific misconduct, and The Lancet retracted two of his papers.
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