BMJ  2007;335:524-525 (15 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.39325.624618.BE

Editorials

Dealing with scientific misconduct

Europe needs policies for good scientific practice and for investigating misconduct allegations

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

International awareness of scientific misconduct is low.¹ Codes of good practice and procedures for handling allegations of misconduct involving research throughout Europe are either underdeveloped or non-existent.

To help resolve this problem, the first world conference on research integrity will take place in Lisbon on 16-19 September 2007 (http://tinyurl.com/2b54xo). It was organised by the US Office of Research Integrity and the European Science Foundation—an association of 78 scientific research organisations in 36 European countries. The event is an opportunity to discuss the harmonisation of policies on scientific misconduct at European and international level.

Unlike in the United States, where the Office of Research Integrity oversees allegations of scientific misconduct involving research supported by US Public Health Service funds, oversight of research in Europe is fragmented and varies widely between countries. With the exception of Scandinavia and—to a lesser degree, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—little or no regulation . . . [Full text of this article]

Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Clínic, 08036-Barcelona, Spain

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