Summa cum fraude: how to prevent scientific misconduct

Scientific integrity has always been a critical issue in performing research. Recently, alarming signals from China have reached the academic community in the USA and Europe about scientific misconduct. One of the most respected newspapers in our country (NRC Handelsblad, 11 December 2010) reported that at least one third of leading scientists (2000 out of 6000) allied to one of the six major Chinese Universities has been involved in scientific misconduct such as plagiarism, data fabrication and data manipulation. Not only in China, but in almost every country, there are clear examples of scientific fraud in the university setting [1]. Research misconduct may appear in many ways: fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, manipulation, failure to meet clear ethical and legal requirements, improper dealing, and misdemeanors. Based on this phenomenon, a European Code of Conduct for research integrity was put forward in June 2010 by the European Science Foundation (ESF). The ESF is an independent, non-governmental organisation, the members of which are 79 national funding agencies, research performing agencies, academies and learned societies from 30 countries within Europe. The European Code has been fully endorsed by the National Organ for Scientific Integrity (LOWI), a Committee of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW, www.knaw.nl) [2]. The principles of the Code include: honesty in communication, reliability in performing research, objectivity, impartiality and independence, openness and accessibility, duty of care, fairness in providing references and giving credit, and responsibility for the scientists and researchers of the future. The European Code has installed new guidelines for good research practice (GRP). They include (1) data practices, (2) research procedures, (3) responsibility, (4) publication-related conduct, and (5) editorial responsibility. With particular emphasis on GRP for scientific journals, crucial issues such as publication-related conduct and editorial responsibility are more extensively described below. This information was directly derived from the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and can be found at www.esf. org/activities/mo-fora/research-integrity.html