Scientific misconduct: a perspective from India

Abstract

Misconduct in medical science research is an unfortunate reality. Science, for the most part, operates on the basis of trust. Researchers are expected to carry out their work and report their findings honestly. But, sadly, that is not how science always gets done. Reports keep surfacing from various countries about work being plagiarised, results which were doctored and data fabricated. Scientific misconduct is scourge afflicting the field of science, unfortunately with little impact in developing countries like India especially in health care services. A recent survey and a meta-analysis suggest that the few cases that do float up represents only tip of a large iceberg. This paper therefore highlights reasons for misconduct with steps that can be taken to reduce misconduct. Also the paper throws light on Indian scenario in relation to misconduct.

Research on Plagiarism in India during 2002-2016 : A Bibliometric Analysis

“…They concluded with the suggestion of establishing centers for academic integrity in India. There were also other studies of medical institutions of India which highlighted academic misconduct a critical problem which needs to be deterred soon [16][17][18][19][20] . Johnson 21 , et al raised various questions on the use of bibliometrics techniques especially when online journals are the key access points for producer and user of information.…”

Academic Fraud

“…Other schemes also include barelylegal publishers and agencies who help to expedite the careers of researchers willing to pay. The latter has seen a rise in countries with emerging academic communities, India and China being particularly vulnerable (Hvristendahl, 2013;Sabir et al, 2015). Hvristendahl (2013) highlights an enlightening sting operation into such agencies in China, offering services ranging from paid authorship on accepted papers (up to $26,000 USD) to purchasing pre-written papers and reviews.…”

“…As academia has proliferated over the past few decades and new academic centres have emerged in China and India, the scope for fraudulent practice has only gotten wider. Both China and India are known to be susceptible to research fraud due to the way their funding, career paths and reward schemes rely on the quantity of publications produced by a researcher (Hvristendahl, 2013;Sabir et al, 2015;Patnaik, 2016). As academic funding becomes ever more scarce, research misconduct will only proliferate.…”

Mendeley Impact on Scientific Writing: Thematic Analysis

“…University, the main producer of a researcher, has an abundant responsibility to provide education and outreach related to the plagiarism prevention [3]. Plagiarism might trap researcher for rapid publication rather than carry out research findings honestly [4]. This, of course, needs to be our concern; therefore plagiarism concept becomes one of the important issues agreed by students and professors to avoid plagiarism.…”