Overview

It has been written in June 2005 [1] that from a recent survey, one-third of scientists admitted to questionable practices. Okay, so the game s up scientists, it turns out, are neither perfect nor perfectly ethical. Scientists flaws include engaging in a wide range of questionable practices . Without looking at the cases of gross scientific misconducts, such as fabricating or plagiarising results, that can end up in the headlines, they are many other behaviours that can compromise the integrity of research and the interest of the results finally obtained. Among the top 10 behaviours and the percentage of respondents admitting to them are the following:

• Failing to present data that contradict one s own previous research (6%)

• Overlooking others use of flawed data or questionable interpretation of data (12.5%)

• Changing the design, methodology, or results of a study in response to pressure from a funding source (15.5%)

• Inappropriately assigning authorship credit (10%)

• Dropping data points from an analysis based on a gut feeling that they were inaccurate (15.3%)

• Keeping inadequate records related to research projects (27.5%)

• Refusing to give one s own data to other people who might interpret them differently, in order to avoid any discussion on this interpretation.

It was also said that the modern scientist faces intense competition, and is further burdened by difficult, sometimes unreasonable regulatory, social, and managerial demands. This mix of pressures creates many possibilities for the compromise of scientific integrity that extends well beyond the official definition of research...