.
Universities
rely on grant money to pay faculty salaries.
6/2/13, "
Study: Forces drive research plagiarism," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mark Roth
"
Two years ago, the journal Nature reported a startling spike in the
number of scientific research papers that were being retracted.
Between
2000 and 2010, the number of papers retracted shot up tenfold, while
the total number published climbed only 44 percent, the journal
reported.
Most of the papers were pulled because of honest
mistakes or failure to replicate results,
but nearly half were withdrawn
because of outright cheating -- falsification of results or plagiarism
from another researcher.
In that sense, the
allegations last week
that Jay Kolls, a Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC researcher,
had misused results from another lab falls into
a growing pattern around
the nation....
While plagiarism often is committed by younger researchers desperate
to get ahead, this case involves a highly experienced scientist
supposedly using the unpublished research of a young doctoral student....
He (Dr. Fang) pointed to at least three
issues: scientists chasing increasingly less research money, too much
emphasis on individual achievement even though most research today is
done by groups,
and heavy reliance by universities on research grants to
pay for faculty salaries....
In his field, Dr. Fang said, only about 6 percent of grant
applications are approved, and in that climate, "
you have to find some
way of standing out and you're going to grab any piece of data you can
and put the best face on it -- and that's not conducive to honesty in
some cases."
Another problem in the field, he said, is the
practice of giving most of the credit on research to the lead author and
the senior author on each paper, which devalues the contributions of
the other listed researchers.
Most research is done now by groups,
he noted, "and I think we need to look more at how we can celebrate
each other's achievements. I think
we've drifted to a culture where
there's too much emphasis on careerism."
Finally, the major
increase in NIH research funding
from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s
spurred many universities to rely heavily on grant money to pay much of
the salaries of new faculty members. Now that the funding has begun to
decline, scientists at major research schools like the University of
Pittsburgh are under increasing pressure, Dr. Fang said.
That can
set the stage for potential misconduct, he said, because "behavioral
economists will say there is no stronger motivation for cheating than
trying to avoid losing something. It's more powerful than trying to gain
something."
Researchers also are more likely to cheat if they think their colleagues are doing so, Dr. Fang added. Francesca Gino, a professor at Harvard Business School who used to work at Carnegie Mellon University, studies this behavior....
"But I think there are some individuals who are talented but for some
reason take shortcuts.
Science is much more lucrative than it ever has
been; they can see potential payoffs, career enhancements, patents and
private money."
" chart from Nature
========================
among comments
========================
"Laurence Cox · Top Commenter
.
Perhaps
if the universities took a novel approach... establish their primary
purpose to teach students instead of to churn out "research papers"
about the decision making exhibited by dead fruit flies, you'd see more
productive and ethical behaviors.
Many of today's universities have
become institutions where the fundamental goal is the quest for money...
and therein lies the root of the ethical lapses.
Mind you,
there's nothing wrong with pursuing money but the distortion of focus
and purpose amongst a group of people who,
first and foremost, are
supposed to be TEACHING, is corrosive.
If they're going to stay
in the money-as-a-purpose business, then they're going to have to step
up their ethics programs, and resolve to continue to see
plagiarism and
research falsification to continue to flourish. One brings the other."
.
===========================
.
"Marilyn Hunt · Top Commenter
Lack
of ethics and morals
drive the dishonest.
Especially dangerous is the
funding for predetermined results in medical and energy research. a new
term Fracademic has been coined to cover these guys.
$cience."
.
=========================
.
Ed. note: Please excuse bright white background behind part of this post. It was put there by my longtime hacker who dislikes free speech.
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