IRELAND MUST protect against the “corruption of the scientific literature” caused by researchers who might cheat when delivering their results. Failure to do so could put patients at risk and also damage our reputation abroad for high-quality scientific work.
Adulterated research findings could have “a massive effect on public welfare”, stated managing director of the Irish Council for Bioethics Dr Siobhán O’Sullivan.
The council yesterday published a document on protecting research findings entitled: Recommendations for Promoting Research Integrity.
Ireland does not have a way to investigate claims of falsified research, Dr O’Sullivan said. “We are advocating a system that would mediate when claims were made but also support research integrity.”
There were no high-profile cases of research fraud yet recorded here, she said. “We have been really lucky here in that we have not had that kind of case.”
Even so the country needed to protect itself against cheating and to have methods for adjudicating if research fraud was claimed. Cases abroad have shown why such controls are needed, she said. Doubts about the integrity of research could have serious implications for public policy.
She cited as an example the “Climategate” controversy where leaked e-mails suggested that scientists studying climate change had adulterated findings in support of proofs of human-induced climate change.
Another involved Dr Werner Bezwoda of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He falsified clinical trial results for a breast cancer treatment later found to have caused the deaths of at least three women.
Medical research findings often provided a basis for later clinical treatments, Dr O’Sullivan said. If results were in fact falsified then they could lead to unsuitable or even dangerous treatments that put patients’ lives at risk.
If nothing else, cheating caused “a corruption of the scientific literature” that could confound subsequent research. “It is highly important the scientific record be accurate and seen to be so,” she said.
Questionable research findings could harm our reputation abroad as a centre for high-quality research. “If we do have a major scandal we will face a lack of confidence in Irish research,” she said. It could also undermine public confidence that the continued public investment in research represented money well spent.
For this reason the council put together recommendations for maintaining research integrity here. First among those was the creation of a body charged with overseeing the issue. She likened its role to that of the Medical Council that oversees medical practice and ethics.
A body set up to protect research integrity would first have to create agreed terminology and meanings for what constituted research fraud, she said. It could then investigate claims, reach decisions on whether a fraud had occurred and what sanctions to apply as a result. Such bodies exist in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the UK, she said.
Given the difficult financial situation, a fallback would be to create such a group within the Higher Education Authority, Dr O’Sullivan said. The authority already had links into third-level institutions “where most of the research happens”. Education and training in research integrity was essential “from the earliest opportunity” at undergraduate level for researchers in the sciences and humanities, she said.