Transcript Human and Animal Research Protections Office (HARPO)

Responsible Conduct of Research
(BIOL/CHEM 397 – spring 2011)
updated: 04/13/2011
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Agenda / Goals for Today
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What is RCR
Components of RCR
Responsibilities & Consequences
Scenarios
Your Research Ethics
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Encouraging responsible conduct of
research
The aim of discussing research ethics is to
encourage integrity in the pursuit of scientific
investigation and practice among of scientists,
scholars, and professionals
Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Services
In other words, be aware of:
 what it means to be a responsible researcher
 how to properly “conduct” research
 doing the “right thing”
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The Nine (9) Areas of RCR
Data Acquisition, Management, Sharing and Ownership
Accurate collection of data and managed properly for
confidentiality and privacy purposes
Conflict of Interest & Commitment
Management of real or perceived interference to assure
that the interests do not adversely influence the research
Research Misconduct
Avoid and deal with issues of egregious behavior (i.e.
fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism – FFP)
Publication Practices & Responsible Authorship
Accurate report of the results
and an honest and open assessment of the finding
Mentor / Trainee Responsibilities
Clear understanding of mutual responsibilities/proper
supervision and a
commitment for a productive environment
Peer Review
Evaluation by colleagues with similar knowledge and
experience for self-regulation of the discipline
Collaboration
Collaborative research roles should be clarified early
discussing and reaching agreement on the details
Human Subjects
Protection of subjects and compliance with relevant
Federal regulations as well as institutional guidelines and
policies
Research Involving Animals
Humane care and use and compliance with relevant
Federal regulations as well as institutional guidelines and
policies
http://ori.hhs.gov/education/products/RCRintro/
Core Responsibilities of RCR
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Essential for learning and scholarship
Respect, integrity and honesty
Avoid errors and report results
accurately
Use resources wisely
Create trust in relationships with
colleagues and with the public
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Fabrication
(making up data or results & recording or reporting them)
John Darsee
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Research Fellow & clinical investigator in cardiology at Harvard, 1979
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Produced 5 major papers in 15 months; offered faculty position in 1981
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Colleagues became concerned about the accuracy of Darsee’s results.
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Included faculty members who did not know they were on the authors on
papers or had no direct involvement in the research.
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Also found he fabricated research publications beginning when he was a
biology student continuing through his medical residency and fellowship
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Led to the retraction of 10 primary journal articles and more than 45
abstracts
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Got a job in critical care medicine in New York where he did not perform
any research
http://www.onlineethics.org/Education/precollege/scienceclass/sectone/cs1.aspx
Falsification
(manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or
omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in
the research record)
Robert Slutsky
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Cardiologist, University of California at San Diego, 1986
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Published 161 articles in 6 years; at one time he was completing an article
every 10 days
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Included the names of many co-authors to mislead editors and cover up
for what was later found to be false output
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Investigation of publications between 1975 to 1985 contained “statistical
anomalies” and “duplicated data” that raised the question of falsified
research records
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Further found that of his 137 of his publications 77 were valid, 48 were
questionable, and 12 were fraudulent
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Resigned from the School of Medicine
http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/rcr/rcr_misconduct/foundation/index.html#1_B_3
Plagiarism
(taking another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving
appropriate credit)
Stephen Ambrose
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Popular and well respected historian (Band of Brothers, D-Day) and biographer of U.S.
Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon
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In 2002 Ambrose was accused of plagiarizing several passages in his book The Wild Blue
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Accused of inappropriately borrowing the words and phrases of three passages from a book
by the historian Thomas Childers, "The Wings of Morning."
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The New York Times performed a closer inspection of "The Wild Blue" and found in at
least five other places Ambrose borrowed words, phrases and passages from other historians'
books
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He acknowledged these errors and promised to correct them in later editions but defended
his methods:
“I tell stories. I don't discuss my documents. I discuss the story. It almost gets to the point where, how much is the reader going to take? I am not
writing a Ph.D. dissertation.”
and
“I wish I had put the quotation marks in, but I didn't. I am not out there stealing other people's writings. If I am writing up a passage and it is a story
I went to tell and this story fits and a part of it is from other people's writing, I just type it up that way and put it in a footnote. I just want to
know where the hell it came from.” *
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Forbes Magazine found other cases of plagiarism involving passages in at least six books,
with a similar pattern going all the way back to his doctoral thesis
Died soon after controversy came to light
* David D. Kirkpatrick, "As Historian's Fame Grows, So Does Attention to Sources," New York Times, January 11, 2002
Scenarios
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Syracuse University, Research Ethics and
Academic Integrity video vignettes, 2002,
http://www.syr.edu/gradschool/gsprograms/resources/REandAIvideos.html
Data Manipulation - third time’s the charm (Scene 2)
Data Management - my “dog” ate my data (Scene 5)
Sharing of Lab Resources – please may I? I won’t tell (Scene 8)
Plagiarism and Inappropriate Citation - And I’m only a grad student!
(Scene 11)
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Incorporate the 9 RCR areas into
your own research ethics
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Be honest and transparent, not deceptive (e.g., falsifying, fabricating, or
plagiarizing data or deceitful attribution of authorship)
Be fair by not introducing unwanted bias into research results,
conclusions, or inferences (e.g., conflicts of interest and commitment,
sloppiness)
Be benevolent, not be malicious (e.g., thievery of ideas, unfair criticism
during peer review for personal gain; exploitive of others)
Protect participants, research personnel, and the environment
Be open to creativity and innovation
Protect the public trust
John Galland, Office of Research Integrity, 2009, http://ori.hhs.gov/blog/?p=15
Office of Research Integrity policies and procedures:
http://ori.hhs.gov/policies/
UMBC links for policies and procedures:
http://www.umbc.edu/research/ORPC/rcr.html
UMBC RCR training:
http://www.umbc.edu/research/ORPC/rcr_training.html
[email protected]
http://www.umbc.edu/research/ORPC
410-455-2737
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