Fewer citations after sex misconduct claims, not research fraud

Academics accused of sexual misconduct experience a significant decrease in research citations but the same effect is not seen for scholars facing charges of scientific fraud, new analysis suggests.

In a study published in Plos One, researchers tracked the citation records of 30 scholars who had faced either sexual or scientific misconduct allegations – 15 of each – with each researcher compared with five scholars of similar standing, experience and publication history in their discipline.

According to the study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, those accused of sexual misconduct received a “significant citation penalty” within three years, both in absolute terms and compared with similar scholars facing no accusations.

However, scholars accused of scientific misconduct did not incur a significant citation penalty in absolute terms nor compared with similar researchers with no accusations.

That trend contradicts the results of a survey of 240 academics undertaken by the study, published on 5 March, which indicated scholars felt they are more likely to cite research from scholars accused of sexual misconduct than from scholars accused of scientific misconduct.

Academics might “mispredict” their citing behaviour or be reluctant to disclose their true preferences, despite attesting their commitment to citations based solely on scientific merit, the study suggests.

The citation patterns might point to the enduring legacy of “powerful social movements like #MeToo [which] amplified awareness of sexual misconduct across industries, including academia”, said lead author Giulia Maimone, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who conducted the research while a graduate student at San Diego’s Rady School of Management.

“We saw some consumers boycotting the music of accused recording artists and realised that while in some contexts it might make sense to penalise the work of individuals accused of immoral behaviour, in others, such as science, the issue is not as straightforward.”

Addressing sexual misconduct in higher education, part one: prevention

The paper shone a light into researchers’ declared behaviour and their actual actions, said Maimone.

“Traditionally, researchers cite a publication for its scientific relevance, not for its authors’ behaviour regarding non-scientific matters. If scholars used citations purely for their scientific purpose, allegations of sexual misconduct should not impact the accused’s citation rates because these allegations are unrelated to the research’s scientific merit,” she said.

“Researchers may have attempted to distance themselves from individuals accused of reprehensible behaviours – whether consciously or not – or to punish colleagues for their immoral behaviour.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com