Research Integrity Issues Surface in World News Headlines
Apr 2nd, 2007 • Posted in: NewsVARIOUS DATELINES
Stories related to the ethics implications of scientific research made world headlines last week. Among the top stories:
- Chinese scientists have agreed to unite in an effort to fight scientific fraud and misconduct, according to a report from Xinhua, the official government news agency. Universities and research departments will formulate ethics guides and strengthen “moral education.” China has been hit recently with a wave of high-profile cases of academic fraud and plagiarism.
- What once was one of the world’s most distinguished research teams — until being rocked by revelations of academic fraud — made its first tentative steps back into the spotlight last week. Korean scientists who were part of a group led by Hwang Woo-suk, the disgraced scientist fired for allegedly faking some of his stem-cell research, announced last week that they have successfully cloned wolves, according to the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency. An article describing the project will be published in a scientific journal, but only after the journal took extraordinary measures to verify all of the data, reports the Times of London. The article will list Hwang as a coauthor, with collaborators noting that some of his findings were legitimate.
- The U.S. government may further tighten restrictions on relationships between researchers and drug companies. Forbes reports that Daniel Levinson, inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, plans to widen conflict-of-interest reviews to include not only researchers employed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) but also scientists who receive government funding for their research, such as professors at universities, who currently are governed by their universities’ ethics rules, not the NIH’s. Watchdog groups claim that NIH-funded academic researchers have arrangements with drug companies that may color their research, according to the Forbes report. In 2005, the NIH banned its direct employees from consulting for drug companies.
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