Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The summary line to this editorial is "The handling of results suggesting faster-than-light neutrinos was a model of fitting behaviour." I've been wanting to say something to this effect all along, but I have only read a few of the reports on this affair and I was afraid I might have missed … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

There are a number of interesting articles in this week's edition of Nature that could stimulate very lively conversations about research integrity and the responsible conduct of research. I'm listing them by title, followed by the short description supplied by Nature. As always, full citations and … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Several recent articles discuss ways in which research can be made more reliable and safe. (1) In Science we have a news article entitled "Psychology's bold initiative." In an unusual attempt at scientific self-examination, psychology researchers are scrutinizing the reproducibility of work … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

This message came to me via e-mail yesterday; published by permission of Dr. Gabriele - Ken A reminder about the 2 upcoming April 2012 Ethics Education Conferences for the 80th Tuskegee Commemoration. First, on April 19th, there is the all day Tuskegee Conference at the Smithsonian National … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

An editorial in this week's issue of Nature excoriates scientists for the "the many careless mistakes creeping into scientific papers," a situation the author calls "endemic." The errors are reportedly fostering an increase in corrections to published research. The editorial uses strong terms to … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

I learned of this via an e-mail message from the NIH RRI-Program e-mail list. - Ken = Educating Scientists in Research Ethics for the 21st Century = A Trainer-of-Trainers Conference March 16-19, 2012Georgetown University Conference CenterWashington, D.C. This trainer-of-trainers … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

I learned of a new unethical practice in science today from this Policy Forum in Science. It's also another reason to dislike the emphasis on impact factors in rating research articles and journals. Apparently a number of journal editors have begun requiring authors to add more citations to the … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

I received this message via e-mail. - Ken Workshop on Responsible Professional Practices in a Changing Research Environment International Research: Moving Towards Best Practices AAAS Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada Dear Colleague, Planning to attend the AAAS Annual Meeting? If so, … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

My colleague, [http://nationalethicscenter.org/members/1335 Doug Adams], and I submitted this letter yesterday in response to the Request for Information to solicit [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-ES-12-004.html Suggested Research Topics for Future Initiatives for the Research … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

ScienceInsider and The Scientist have both recently reported on an interesting new approach to peer review and publishing in science (see Sources, below). [http://www.peerageofscience.org/ Peerage of Science] describes itself as "a community of scientists from 27 countries and over 200 … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Please share this invitation with interested colleagues. [http://mypage.iu.edu/~pimple/events/ See http://tinyurl.com/TeachRCR for full information] You are invited to join us for this half-day workshop at the annual meeting of the [http://appe.indiana.edu Association for Practical and … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Three recent articles could be very effective in sparking discussion on regulating apparently dangerous research and other changes in how science works. Two of the articles, from the Chronicle of Higher Education, are in a point-counterpoint format. They focus on papers set to appear in Nature … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

In the United States, the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), located in the federal Department of Health and Human Services, is the big dog in research integrity; it "oversees and directs Public Health Service (PHS) research integrity activities on behalf of the Secretary of Health and Human … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

It seems to be fairly common knowledge that the number of retractions of science publications has been increasing, but this article by Paul Basken (Chronicle of Higher Education, January 8, 2012) describes the findings of R. Grant Steen's study of articles indexed in !PubMed. Steen found that "the … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

This article by Peter Schmidt and published in the Chronicle of Higher Education (January 5, 2012) raises important ethical issues in interview-based research, especially oral history but also strands of research in education, sociology, anthropology, psychology - it could be a long list. At … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Registrations are being accepted for the seventh meeting of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition. The meeting will be held at AAAS Headquarters in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2012. From the … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The latest issue of the newsletter of the AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program, Professional Ethics Report, is now available [http://srhrl.aaas.org/newsletter/per/index.shtml online]. Contents Cover Story: * Public & Media Engagement with Regenerative Medicine In … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The [http://ori.dhhs.gov/ Office of Research Integrity] (ORI) has published a Request for Information to solicit [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-ES-12-004.html Suggested Research Topics for Future Initiatives for the Research on Research Integrity Program]. The Research on … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

From the [http://ori.hhs.gov/blog/2011/12/ori-announces-new-director/ ORI Blog]: ORI Announces New DirectorWe are pleased to announce that Dr. David E. Wright will be joining ORI in January as the new Director.From 1993-2004, Dr. Wright served as Michigan State University’s (MSU) Assistant … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Originally sent as an e-mail message from the Project for Scholarly Integrity. What is the place of ethics education in graduate programs? Is it the job of departments and programs to provide graduate students with the skills and knowledge they need to conduct research responsibly and ethically, … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Originally circulated via e-mail by Cynthia Ricard of HHS. Save the Date for the Office of Research Integrity Quest for Research Excellence 2012 conference! It will be held March 15-16, 2012 at the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center, Washington, DC 20057. Please pass this … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions will host the 19th annual Teaching Research Ethics Workshop at the Indiana Memorial Union on the campus of Indiana University Bloomington, May 15-18, 2012. Session topics will include an overview of ethical theory, trainee … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Here are two items from The Chronicle of Higher Education that I think could be used to good effect in teaching RCR. In "[http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-Advisers-Need-a-Set/129239/ To Encourage Ethical Behavior by Graduate Advisers, 3 Scholars Call for Detailed Codes of Conduct]," Brenda … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Two opinion pieces in today's issue of Nature caught my eye. Exposing misconduct: [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v477/n7366/full/477509b.html Blackened names], an unsigned editorial, makes a strong case that the names of researchers who are found guilty of research misconduct should be … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Research-Grants-Are-For-Research Department: According to ScienceInsider (a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science), virologist Jian-Yun Dong (a.k.a. John Dong) of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston "has been charged with making illegal campaign … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Alfred P. Zarb, whose affiliation is listed only as "Leura, New South Wales, Australia" (Leura is a city), argues in a [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v477/n7365/full/477407d.html letter to the editor] in today's Nature that The only way to achieve scientific integrity across the board … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

I don't know whether it's odd of me to see a link between these two items, but if nothing else they remind us that researchers are enmeshed in a political world, like it or not. A [http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110914/full/477251a.html column] in Nature by Willy Aspinall entitled "Check your … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The study of human nature has been exposing some of the less savory aspects recently; first Marc Hauser, now this. "A psychologist whose splashy findings on human nature routinely made the news has been dismissed for falsifying data" (The Scientist). The social psychologist in question is Diederik … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

I just learned from The Scientist that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has "released a draft summarizing its principles for scientific integrity and outlining new principles which it plans to implement at the end of the year, and has invited the public to chime in." This could be an … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

A [http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?OPMControl=2345986 vacancy announcement] has recently been posted for a job critical for promoting research integrity in the United States - the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations (AIGI) at the National Science Foundation. The vacancy … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

A recent Careers column in Nature, written by a Ph.D. candidate, bemoans the administrative burden on scientists ("[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7355/full/nj7355-257a.html Too many tasks]"). A still-more recent letter responding to the column, written by three presumably established … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

An editorial, a comment, and a news article in a recent issue of Nature could be used fruitfully to discuss ethical issues in using non-human animals in research, the social responsibility of science and scientists, "forbidden knowledge," the complexity of human moral sensibilities, and the mixed … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

There has been a flurry of articles, comments, and letters about the use of chimpanzees in research over the last month or so, at least in my [[https://www.nationalethicscenter.org/members/1081/blog/2011/06/sources-for-science-news favorite sources of science news]]. I don't know what prompted … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The late Stephen Jay Gould did not hide his ideology, but as far as I know it rarely impinged significantly on his work as a scientist. However, I'm not entirely surprised to learn that he has been accused of allowing bias to sully one of his scientific claims. Disappointed, but not … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The Call for Papers and Meeting Announcement for the twenty-first annual meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) has been issued. The meeting will be held March 1-4, 2012 at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza in Cincinnati, Ohio. Of special interest: … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

This is a nice, short article on the state of the art of assessing the effects of attempts to teach ethics. The short story is that it's really hard to show that a course or an ethics-across-the-curriculum program improves people's ethical behavior. The same holds true, of course, for teaching … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The following is pasted from the latest issue of [http://srhrl.aaas.org/newsletter/per/index.shtml#Special Professional Ethics Report] (Volume XXIV, Number 2, Spring 2011). New Program at AAAS As part of a review of science and policy activities at AAAS, two of the Association's programs … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

This article describes a familiar story. I give only the bare bones here. It's the case of a postdoctoral researcher who questioned some of his supervisor's data and was ultimately threatened with firing. The department's chairman said he could wait to be fired, resign voluntarily or accept … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

This editorial (author unknown) comments on a Supreme Court decision that supports a faculty member's assignment of rights to a private firm without his university's cooperation or permission. I understand why faculty researchers would be frustrated and resentful that some of the money generated … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

This news article from the Chronicle of Higher Education describes a report entitled "Failure by Deans of Academic Medical Centers to Disclose Outside Income" which appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine (March 28). According to the Chronicle, the report takes a number of medical school … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The June 3, 2011 issue of Chronicle of Higher Education includes five articles on copyright in academe, listed here with the Chronicle's short description: *[http://chronicle.com/article/A-Professors-Fight-Over/127700/ A Professor's Fight Over Shostakovich Heads to the Supreme Court] - … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

I regularly monitor (read: "skim") five publications for news about science and research ethics: #The [http://chronicle.com/ Chronicle of Higher Education] #[http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html Nature] #The [http://www.nytimes.com/ New York Times] (especially on Science Tuesday) … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

The "Random Samples" feature of Science this week describes a survey of science fair competitors at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky. The researchers, both students themselves, "found that more than half of science fair competitors at their school cheated." One hundred students … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

Nature has published an editorial related to my [http://nationalethicscenter.org/members/1081/blog/2011/06/fixing-problems-not-blame earlier post] on fixing problems. Lab safety is certainly an aspect of the responsible conduct of research. The editorial summary gets straight to the point: "Every … Continue reading →

Posted by Kenneth D Pimple

In a recent commentary in the [http://www.nytimes.com New York Times], Olivia Golden argues that widespread institutional problems require systematic solutions. Solving one problem at a time doesn't fix the system and doesn't readily translate into institutional or system-wide change. Golden's … Continue reading →