BackgroundCodes of conduct mainly focus on research misconduct that takes the form of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. However, at the aggregate level, lesser forms of research misbehavior may be more important due to their much higher prevalence. Little is known about what the most frequent research misbehaviors are and what their impact is if they occur.MethodsA survey was conducted among 1353 attendees of international research integrity conferences. They were asked to score 60 research misbehaviors according to their views on and perceptions of the frequency of occurrence, preventability, impact on truth (validity), and impact on trust between scientists on 5-point scales. We expressed the aggregate level impact as the product of frequency scores and truth, trust and preventability scores, respectively. We ranked misbehaviors based on mean scores. Additionally, relevant demographic and professional background information was collected from participants.ResultsResponse was 17% of those who were sent the invitational email and 33% of those who opened it. The rankings suggest that selective reporting, selective citing, and flaws in quality assurance and mentoring are viewed as the major problems of modern research. The “deadly sins” of fabrication and falsification ranked highest on the impact on truth but low to moderate on aggregate level impact on truth, due to their low estimated frequency. Plagiarism is thought to be common but to have little impact on truth although it ranked high on aggregate level impact on trust.ConclusionsWe designed a comprehensive list of 60 major and minor research misbehaviors. Our respondents were much more concerned over sloppy science than about scientific fraud (FFP). In the fostering of responsible conduct of research, we recommend to develop interventions that actively discourage the high ranking misbehaviors from our study.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s41073-016-0024-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A reference system for the soluble antigens of Mycobacterium bovis, strain BCG is described. The system is based on crossed immunoelectrophoresis with intermediate gel. A commercially available immunoglobulin preparation made from rabbit anti-BCG hyperimmune serum was used as reference antibodies, while a concentrated BCG culture filtrate was used as reference antigen. The pattern obtained was highly reproducible, and most of the components were stable when the fiftyfold-concentrated culture filtrate was stored at -20 degrees C. About thirty different antigenic components were selected as reference antigens and numbered. The majority of the reference antigens were present in extracts prepared from BCG by ultrasonication or bacterial press extraction. Use of the system for studies of antigenic relationship between mycobacteria, identification and quantification of antigens, and characterization of antimycobacterial antibodies are illustrated by examples. The antigens of two preparations of tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) were identified. The antigen designated BCG60 was found to be a najor constituent of tuberculin PPD. Evidence is presented that this antigen is cell wall associated.

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