THE NETHERLANDS. In the Netherlands, the largest ever study of scientific integrity and sloppy science is being conducted across all disciplines. Or that was the idea, at least, but most universities and teaching hospitals are withholding their cooperation.
Even so, the plans remain ambitious. All researchers working at Dutch universities and academic hospitals – from PhD candidates to professors – are being asked to complete a questionnaire about the way in which they practise science.
Even though this item was published in November 2020 (and the survey failed because of resistance by research institutions – see the related readings), we feel posting it to our Newsroom provides an opportunity to reflect on two matters. 1. There would be value in every country conducting such reviews to evaluate the attitudes of the country’s researchers and behaviour that may not have been captured by the country’s research misconduct arrangements. 2. We have increasingly felt that institutions have an intolerable conflict of interest in their role in terms of research misconduct, their reputation and their eligibility for research funding. Something has to change.
Cutting corners
Everyone in the academic world sees academic integrity as important, especially after the prominent scandal involving Tilburg Professor of Social Psychology Diederik Stapel, whose years of academic misconduct came to light in 2011. And another issue that is increasingly being highlighted is the grey area in which researchers sometimes cut corners or make their results appear more meaningful than they actually are.
ZonMW, an organisation that provides funding for research and is generally mainly involved in medical research, has launched a programme to promote good research. It has earmarked €3.8 million for this. The ‘National Survey on Research Integrity’ is one of its four pillars.