SRAI 2022: Investigators examining conduct concerns may need to sequester non-public research data, consultant says

Publicly available data is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of what might need to be examined when an institution is investigating concerns about research conduct, according to a specialist in ‘research data forensics’—the practices used to find other relevant data for analysis.

Mary Walsh, chief scientific investigator at Maidstone Consulting Group—who also works on data forensics at Harvard Medical School in the United States—told attendees at the annual meeting of the Society of Research Administrators International that non-public data are often needed to effectively address research conduct concerns.

This data will need to be sequestered by investigators using a thorough process for analysis alongside public data such as published research papers, Walsh (pictured) explained at the SRAI meeting in Las Vegas on 3 November.

Non-public data would ideally include raw data such as image files from a laboratory, as well as metadata like notebooks, Walsh said.