The year 2020 was a year of great scientific misconduct. The late British physicist Stephen Hawking had said that “science is not only a disciple of reason but also one of romance and passion”.
The vast majority of scientists work with passion to discover or invent, design experiments and generate data, using reason as the cornerstone, and draw conclusions using logical reasoning. These conclusions are published in scientific journals, after the methodologies and conclusions are deemed acceptable and appropriate by peers. Some work leads to the invention of tools, from submersible pumps to diagnostic tests for diseases.
In this pursuit, scientists can make errors. When these errors are detected after publication, the papers are “retracted”. The journal announces the retractions. Such retractions play an important role in retaining only valid scientific inferences and in preventing the repetition of similar errors.
Competition in science has increased fiercely. Many scientists often work independently to solve a problem. Whoever publishes first wins laurels. Consequently, there is often a great rush to publish. This rush has resulted in many papers being retracted.
While most of these retractions are due to honest errors, some are due to scientific misconduct — the violation of standard codes of ethical conduct of research. These include data fabrication, falsification of methods or results, and plagiarism, that is, publishing work done by others as one’s own.
Scientists who indulge in misconduct are abhorred. Of concern is a recent surge in retractions, due especially to fraudulent scientific practices.
To stamp out bad science, two veteran health journalists — Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus — began to catalogue retractions, with an investigative report on the cause of retraction.
In 2010 they created a database called Retraction Watch.
On December 15, 2020, Retraction Watch listed 24,561 retracted scientific publications. A large proportion of these retractions is due to scientific misconduct; manipulation of images of scientific experiments usually to suit a pet scientific hypothesis being very popular.
This year has witnessed a flood of scientific publications on various aspects of the coronavirus. Among about 1,650 articles during 2020, about 40 per cent pertained to the coronavirus. The founders of
Retraction Watch have stated that this is an “exceptionally high” rate and is “alarming”.
Most retractions don’t impact our lives. Some do. Among these, the most prominent is a series of scientific publications by a once-renowned anaesthesiologist, Joachim Boldt.
He led research in a hospital in Germany, Klinikum Ludwigshafen. In 2009, Boldt published a paper that came under scrutiny. It contained fabricated data. Subsequently, 96 of his 98 publications were retracted for scientific misconduct.
Boldt asserted in many of his publications, using flawed and fabricated data, that hydroxyethyl starch, or hetastarch, if used in a form containing synthetic molecules called colloids, can be safely used to stabilise the blood pressure of patients during surgery.
Hetastarch with colloids was widely used. Later studies carried out carefully by other scientists showed that hetastarch with colloids often caused deaths. Thus, scientific misconduct placed the lives of patients in danger.
It is important that scientists remain vigilant against misconduct of their peers.
We have contributed a fair bit to retracted publications; At least 25 publications from India in journals were retracted during 2020.
Lives of scientists are tied to the quantity and quality of their publications. In science, employment, promotion, awards and other recognitions, all depend on what we publish. Therefore, in our zeal to obtain these rapidly, we sometimes take recourse to foul means. That discredits the entire profession.
The science academies of India and elsewhere have started to play a leading role against scientific misconduct. The eminent US geologist Thomas Chamberlain had said: “Falsity in intellectual action is intellectual immorality.”
Science is an integral part of our social fabric. All citizens have a role to play in retaining standards of high intellectual morality of our society by being vigilant against scientific misconduct. Otherwise, our lives may be in peril.
The author is a National Science Chair and president of the Indian Academy of Science