Financial costs and personal consequences of research misconduct resulting in retracted publications

“A meta-analysis of survey data indicates that approximately 2% of scientists admit to data falsification or manipulation on at least one occasion (Fanelli, 2009), whereas less than 0.02% of published data are retracted due to fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism (Claxton, 2005; Fang et al.,…”

“We examined the text of 291 articles originating from the United States and published between 1992 and 2012 that were retracted for research misconduct (Fang et al., 2012), and recorded NIH grant numbers cited in footnotes or acknowledgments.”

“In another high-profile fraud case involving studies of the use of colloid for fluid resuscitation, there is evidence that the discredited body of work led to the use of a therapy with higher mortality and morbidity than standard care (Wise, 2013; Zarychanski et al., 2013).”

“Whether the actual frequency of misconduct is increasing is unknown (Fanelli, 2013; Steen et al., 2013), but there is increasing interest in this subject given the occurrence of several high profile cases, the creation of websites that track retracted research, such as Retraction Watch (Oransky and…”

“This problem has been noted previously (Falagas, 2006; Bourne and Fink, 2008; Lane, 2010; Polychronakos, 2012), and systems have been proposed for the disambiguation of authors with similar names (Fenner, 2011).”

“Whether the actual frequency of misconduct is increasing is unknown (Fanelli, 2013; Steen et al., 2013), but there is increasing interest in this subject given the occurrence of several high profile cases, the creation of websites that track retracted research, such as Retraction Watch (Oransky and…”

“A recent report demonstrated a significant decline in the citation of an author's work after one of his or her papers was retracted (Lu et al., 2013).”

“It has been suggested that pressure to ‘publish or perish’ during times of scarce resources, increased competition and the winner-take-all economics of research may contribute to an atmosphere in which some individuals are tempted to commit misconduct (Casadevall and Fang, 2012).”

“Some studies indicate that hundreds of thousands of patients have been placed at risk of improper medical care due to enrollment in fraudulent studies or the administration of treatment based on fraudulent studies (Steen, 2011).”

“…of survey data indicates that approximately 2% of scientists admit to data falsification or manipulation on at least one occasion (Fanelli, 2009), whereas less than 0.02% of published data are retracted due to fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism (Claxton, 2005; Fang et al., 2012).”

“In another high-profile fraud case involving studies of the use of colloid for fluid resuscitation, there is evidence that the discredited body of work led to the use of a therapy with higher mortality and morbidity than standard care (Wise, 2013; Zarychanski et al., 2013).”

“Honest retractions resulting from scientific error represent a mechanism for correction of the literature (Casadevall et al., 2014).”

“Recent studies of faculty and postdoctoral fellows indicate that research productivity declines after censure by the ORI, sometimes to zero, but that many of those who commit misconduct are able to find new jobs within academia (Redman and Merz, 2008, 2013).”

“Gammon and Franzini (2013) analyzed 17 cases using a mixed methods model to conclude that ORI cases incur financial costs ranging from Research | Financial costs and personal consequences of research misconduct resulting in retracted publications Stern et al. eLife 2014;3:e02956.”

“This problem has been noted previously (Falagas, 2006; Bourne and Fink, 2008; Lane, 2010; Polychronakos, 2012), and systems have been proposed for the disambiguation of authors with similar names (Fenner, 2011).”

“This problem has been noted previously (Falagas, 2006; Bourne and Fink, 2008; Lane, 2010; Polychronakos, 2012), and systems have been proposed for the disambiguation of authors with similar names (Fenner, 2011).”

“[21], even in cases of retracted publications due to scientific misconduct, which is not a major source of irreproducibility [13,22], “it is conceivable that some of the research resulting in a retracted article still provides useful information for other nonretracted”

“In 2014, Stern et al. [41] estimate that each of the retracted articles could account for a mean of $ 392,582 in direct costs , implying much higher indirect costs caused by misled research—and this is only in the biomedical field and these numbers are five years out-dated.”

“Stern et al. (2014) estimate the amount of NIH funding involved in publications that are retracted subsequently and find that between 1992 and 2012, no more than 0.02% of the NIH budget went to studies that were later retracted.”