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International - Activity
German Investigators Protest Editing of Misconduct Report
Volume 10, No. 2, March 2002
Scientists who investigated the biggest research misconduct case
in Germany are questioning whether DFG, the country's main research funding
agency, is the appropriate body for handling allegations of research misconduct
after the agency altered the report submitted by its task force, according to
Nature.
The DFG president said the press conference announcing the final
report would have had to be canceled if the passages describing alleged
irregularities in two papers were not deleted because of pressure being applied
by a lawyer for one of the respondents. All three authors associated with those
papers were banned by DFG from serving as peer reviewers for specified periods.
In total, the investigation involved 6 scientists and about 94 suspicious
papers.
The head of the task force argues that the DFG did not have the
authority to alter the task force report. He further stated, "What we need
is a truly independent panel to handle investigations."
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