Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by n1 on Friday April 14 2017, @11:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the great-equalizer dept.

Does the U.S. research community need a new body devoted to rooting out research misconduct?

The U.S. research community needs to do a better job of both investigating misconduct allegations and promoting ethical conduct—or the government might act unilaterally in ways that scientists won't like.

That's the implicit message sent by a new report out today from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine entitled Fostering Integrity in Research. The report's key recommendation is that universities and scientific societies create, operate, and fund a new, independent, nongovernmental Research Integrity Advisory Board (RIAB). The board would serve as a clearinghouse to raise awareness of the issues, as an honest broker to mediate disagreements, and as a beacon to help institutions that lack the knowledge or resources to root out bad behavior and foster good behavior.

Other entities are already doing these things, but none has research integrity as its sole focus nor covers so much territory. Federal funding agencies investigate and punish miscreants who misuse taxpayer dollars, universities train scientists as part of their mission to advance knowledge, and scientific societies and journals have adopted ethical standards for their authors and members. After reviewing that landscape, the committee concluded that all of those organizations need to step up their game.

Also at NPR.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:00PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @05:00PM (#494074)

    And we're off! The idiots are in the lead but will they be able to survive the long haul stretch that is human society?? Current outlook is grim...

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 15 2017, @04:16AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 15 2017, @04:16AM (#494300) Journal

    And we're off! The idiots are in the lead but will they be able to survive the long haul stretch that is human society?? Current outlook is grim...

    There's no point to criticizing markets when you don't know how they work. Stop being part of the idiot problem.