The difference between bad practice and outright cheating or fraud isn’t always clear. There is the obvious like copying someone else’s work, or making up results, or otherwise fabricating, lying, or using technology to produce bullshit citations, in the hope of deceiving the wider academic community. However, there are the more subtle practices: quietly omitting unfavourable results, poor citation, over egging the outcomes of some work for the sake of novelty, and other academic malpractices.
An international survey carried out by LSE academics suggests that up to seven per cent of academics in the sample committed some form of plagiarism in the past three years (much higher than estimates from previous meta-analysis). A series of freedom of information requests by the BBC found 300 reports of research misconduct at 23 of the 24 Russell Group universities between 2012-15 with around 1/3 of these upheld.
Research integrity is a slippery, tricky, and nervously approached topic. This is partially because the validity of research has a direct impact on the world. It is university research that forms the basis for curing cancers, building atomic bombs, and tens of thousands of other kinds of big decisions that fundamentally shape the world around us. If the research is wrong then, well, then the world might just be wrong as well.
More: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/why-research-integrity-matters-to-all-of-us/
