A Case Series in Publication Ethics: Data Fabrication
From The Embassy of Good Science
ResourcesCases
A Case Series in Publication Ethics: Data Fabrication
What is this about?
A junior researcher published an article. A senior researcher of the organisation read the article and noticed the striking resemblance of the article topic with one of his accepted research projects, which was still in ongoing. They asked the junior researcher for their raw data. The junior researcher was unable to provide the data. Finally, they admitted to fabricating the data.
Why is this important?
Data fabrication is a serious act of misconduct, which usually goes unnoticed.
For whom is this important?
What are the best practices?
COPE recommends the retraction of articles that contain fabricated data and a reporting made to the appropriate institutional misconduct body. Universities and research centres should be very sensitive to this important issue by reprimanding or dismissing researchers involved in fabrication.
