: The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and scope of the corrections made to the published biomedical literature affected by scientific misconduct and to make recommendations to the appropriate entities when warranted by the results of the study. This retrospective cohort study will involve the following steps. 1) Identify all Office of Research Integrity (ORI) determinations of scientific misconduct from 1992 - 2001, and select for inclusion in the study cohort those individuals with ORI-identified publications containing plagiarism, misrepresentation of data or other information requiring correction, errata, retraction, or similar actions (problem publications). 2) Conduct searches in MEDLINE-based bibliographic and citation databases to determine the extent to which errata, corrections and retractions (corrigenda) are tagged to the bibliographic citations of such problem publications, and characterize the range of the location and content of such postings. 3) Describe how the publishers and vendors of electronic databases identify errata, retractions and other forms of notification within their online citations. 4) Describe the extent to which subsequent authors cite the problem publications. Determine if those who cite the problem publications also cite the ORI finding of misconduct, or the corrigenda (for those problem publications that are tagged with such corrigenda). 5) Randomly sample the citations to the problem articles and conduct a content analysis to determine the nature of the reference to the problem publication. Preliminary studies have demonstrated the nature and extent of the problem of correcting the literature after scientific misconduct. Preliminary work has also demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed methodology. Based on the study findings, we will formulate policy recommendations to appropriate entities for improving the integrity of the published biomedical literature. We will also disseminate the study findings by developing an awareness program related to maintaining the integrity of the published literature for professional library associations and societies, and through peer-reviewed publications.
| Neale, Anne Victoria; Dailey, Rhonda K; Abrams, Judith (2010) Analysis of citations to biomedical articles affected by scientific misconduct. Sci Eng Ethics 16:251-61 |
| Neale, Anne Victoria; Northrup, Justin; Dailey, Rhonda et al. (2007) Correction and use of biomedical literature affected by scientific misconduct. Sci Eng Ethics 13:5-24 |
