On the grapevine
Surprised by fraud
The academic world believes in its own moral integrity and keeps being surprised when it discovers data manipulation, says the psychologist Nick Brown.
Research institutions are being naïve in the face of misconduct, believes Nick Brown. | Image: zVg
“There seems to be this idea that once you have a PhD, you are somehow a saint”.
Nick Brown is a psychologist and has taken it upon himself to investigate data manipulation in publications in his field. In an article in the US magazine The Atlantic, he explains why research fraud isn’t subject to systematic investigation: When a case is discovered, research institutions react as if it’s something unthinkable. But in anonymous surveys, almost two percent of researchers admit to having invented, falsified or embellished data on at least one occasion.
