Research ethics

Tim Birkhead warns of the ‘end of science’ unless academics push back against threats to creativity and integrity

Scholars in the UK and Australia contemptuous of impact statements and often exaggerate them, study suggests

Jisc Digifest hears openness could bring benefits, but some cite plagiarism risks

Reflecting on the plight of the early career scholar prompts Xenia Schmalz to draw up a research manifesto

BMJ editor in chief raises alarm over drug trial research funded and often controlled by manufacturers themselves

Drug company hopes to provide a new home for studies that try to replicate previous experimental results

Two famous experiments have reached the silver screen. Antonio Melechi on the relationship between the academic discipline and Hollywood

Center for Open Science hopes initiative will make results more reproducible

Warning comes after stories about Coca-Cola’s spending on science hit the headlines last year

Peer Reviewers’ Openness Initiative billed as a ‘grassroots’ response to concerns over reproducibility

Analysis of seven prominent medical journals finds randomised controlled trials are far less likely to receive a press release than weaker observational studies

Plos Biology launches new section looking at how experiments are run and incentive systems for scientists

Baron Stern of Brentford has previously raised concerns that the research excellence framework forces academics to focus too much on publishing articles

Prosecutors accuse academics of colluding with publishers to boost their standing and sell more books

Too many senior scholars abuse their power when it comes to assigning credit, argues Bruce Macfarlane

Senior figures in UK science fear that culture leading to research misconduct has not been changed

Author of new book The Cunning of Uncertainty fears pressure for scientific certainty is leading researchers to make promises they cannot deliver

The measure of scholarly impact is now being manipulated so much that it has ceased to be meaningful, editorial claims

Outgoing New York University president John Sexton dismisses concerns over academic freedom at his institution’s Abu Dhabi campus

How valid are fears that financial conflicts of interest are damaging confidence in academic research?

Researchers from 72 institutions say they will not visit Israeli higher education institutions, act as referees, or participate in conferences

A new paper finds that more than half of economic studies are unreproducible. But there could be even deeper issues with the discipline, says David Matthews

Cases underscore concerns about use of younger researchers’ work by senior colleagues without permission

Fears that discipline is particularly susceptible to statistical ‘hacking’ of data to gain a positive result

Reports question whether scientists are removing sources of bias in experiments involving animals

Despite the ironic slips, article sheds light on how journals can tackle flawed science

Majority of academics publishing in journals with lax peer review are from Asia, study concludes

Inspired by previous movement in 1960s, PhD students say that ‘science is not neutral’ and urge scientists to confront their assumptions

David Barrowclough tricked Heritage Lottery Fund by applying for money for fake projects

Studies on urine, pain thresholds and unboiled eggs honoured in annual awards for improbable research. John Elmes takes a look

Australian advocates of alternative treatments lobby Canberra for more state funding for research

Did a huge research replication exercise do a power of good? ask Wolfgang Stroebe and Miles Hewstone

10 must-dos for postdocs identified by Catherine L Drennan, professor of chemistry and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Region’s universities must build a type of institution distinctive from those in the West, scholar argues

Paul Jump examines the many reasons for irreproducibility in science and efforts to tackle it

But master of Birkbeck has accepted that there were ‘procedural matters’ in his lab that ‘required attention’

Names, addresses and sensitive information discovered in unlocked filing cabinet at University of Bedfordshire

The rise in ‘kilo-authors’ and ‘gift authorship’ is causing the academy to rethink how it assesses the worth of academic publications

Training needs to recognise US and overseas students’ different approaches to decision-making, study concludes

The eminent sociologist is entitled to draw on his long lifetime of thought, but should probably be clearer about the extent to which he is doing so, says Paul Jump

Six academics share their experiences before delivering a verdict on the system

Amid concerns about the growing use – and abuse – of quantitative measures in universities, a major new review examines the role of metrics in the assessment of research, from the REF to performance management

Information Commissioner orders university to share information with animal rights groups following FoI request

This mendacious metric is dangerous for individuals and the sector, and bad news for the taxpayer, argues Philip Moriarty

The pressure to publish high-profile papers may not be linked to research misconduct, a new study has found.

Researchers face pressure to hype and report selectively, says Dorothy Bishop

Ross Aikins considers the evolution of substance use and how universities shape the debate

Christopher Bigsby on those who take a creative approach to academic rigour

Mark Israel’s book Research Ethics and Integrity for Social Science looks at need for nuance in applying guidelines and protocols

Work by Nuffield Council on Bioethics reveals pressure on researchers to compromise on integrity and mistrust of the REF

Academics’ engagement activities are valuable, says Alison Phipps. But a public profile comes at a price, especially for women who study gender

Universities are not doing enough to help scholars navigate the ethical dilemmas, argues Jean Grugel

Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman on the long shadow cast by Francis Galton’s theory

Fears about how much research funding is being wasted on fraudulent projects may be overstated.

Paper turned down for plagiarising surfaces in another of publisher’s journals

Survey of 400 academics reveals almost all admit involvement in at least one unacceptable research practice

We must change the way we educate students to counter rising scientific misconduct, say Tim Birkhead and Bob Montgomerie

Academics have ultimate responsibility for the ethics of their project, says Ron Iphofen

Shield laws could help protect confidential sources, but most vital is university support, say Ted Palys and John Lowman

Bradley Garrett, whose fieldwork was seized and used in court against the urban explorers he studied, says researchers need clear support