{"id":3807,"date":"2019-06-19T19:52:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T10:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/163.180.4.222\/lab\/?p=3807"},"modified":"2019-06-19T19:52:22","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T10:52:22","slug":"what-universities-can-learn-from-one-of-sciences-biggest-frauds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=3807","title":{"rendered":"What universities can learn from one of science\u2019s biggest frauds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>Detailed analysis of misconduct investigations into huge research fraud suggests institutional probes aren\u2019t rigorous enough.<\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article__body serif cleared\">\n<figure class=\"figure\">\n<div class=\"embed intensity--high\">\n<div class=\"embed intensity--high\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/media.nature.com\/w800\/magazine-assets\/d41586-019-01884-2\/d41586-019-01884-2_16821518.jpg\" alt=\"X-rays of left and right knees, lateral view.\" data-src=\"\/\/media.nature.com\/w800\/magazine-assets\/d41586-019-01884-2\/d41586-019-01884-2_16821518.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<p class=\"figure__caption sans-serif\"><span class=\"mr10\">Bone-health research was hit by a sprawling case of misconduct that affected tens of studies.<\/span>Credit: Auscape\/Universal Images Group\/ Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By day, Andrew Grey studies bone health. But over the past few years, he\u2019s developed another speciality: the case of one of science\u2019s most prolific fraudsters.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From 1996 to 2013, Yoshihiro Sato, a Japanese bone-health researcher plagiarized work, fabricated data and forged authorships \u2014 prompting retractions of more than 60 studies in the scholarly literature so far. Grey and colleagues at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and the University of Aberdeen, UK, are among the researchers who have raised concerns about Sato\u2019s work over the past decade or so, and they have studied the case in detail \u2014 in particular, how universities involved in the research investigated concerns about his work and allegations of misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>At the World Conference on Research Integrity in Hong Kong from 2 to 5 June, Grey\u2019s team described its years-long efforts to clean up Sato\u2019s literature, and presented its analysis of the inquiries conducted by four universities in Japan and the United States ensnared in the scandal (the team published its analysis of three investigations in a paper in February<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01884-2?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nature%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+-+Issue%29#ref-CR1\" data-track=\"click\" data-action=\"anchor-link\" data-track-label=\"go to reference\" data-track-category=\"references\">1<\/a><\/sup>). Grey says their findings provide evidence to support a growing view in the academic community: that university investigations into research misconduct are often\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01728-z\" data-track=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01728-z\" data-track-category=\"body text link\">inadequate, opaque and poorly conducted<\/a>. They challenge the idea that institutions can police themselves on research integrity and propose that there should be independent organizations to evaluate allegations of research fraud should.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"recommended pull pull--left sans-serif\" data-label=\"Related\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-018-05145-6\" data-track=\"click\" data-track-label=\"recommended article\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"recommended__image\" src=\"https:\/\/media.nature.com\/w400\/magazine-assets\/d41586-019-01884-2\/d41586-019-01884-2_15944378.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"recommended__title serif\">Nine pitfalls of research misconduct<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The analysis is one of just a few to look closely at research-misconduct investigations, and the first to use a systematic approach to rate them, says\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01728-z\" data-track=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01728-z\" data-track-category=\"body text link\">C. K. Gunsalus, a specialist in research integrity<\/a>\u00a0at the University of Illinois at Urbana\u2013Champaign, who was not part of the analysis. Too many research-misconduct investigations turn out to be inadequate or flawed, says Gunsalus, who had a hand in creating a 26-point checklist<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01884-2?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nature%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+-+Issue%29#ref-CR2\" data-track=\"click\" data-action=\"anchor-link\" data-track-label=\"go to reference\" data-track-category=\"references\">2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0that university officials can use to guide probes into research misconduct, which Grey\u2019s team used to rate the investigations.<\/p>\n<p>The checklist questions an investigation\u2019s scope, reliability and impact \u2014 for instance, whether the investigating committee included external members and whether evidence could have been tampered with. The team independently assessed each investigation report using the checklist; one report had addressed none of the points adequately and two others properly addressed only two or three points. \u201cOverall, each report was considered unacceptable,\u201d say Grey and colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alarm bells<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sato, who died in 2016, studied and ran clinical trials of drugs and supplements that might help to prevent bone fracture. Researchers in the field began raising concerns about Sato\u2019s work in the mid-2000s, when some questioned the speed at which Sato had recruited and assessed participants for some of his studies.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/article-abstract\/411832?resultClick=1\" data-track=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamainternalmedicine\/article-abstract\/411832?resultClick=1\" data-track-category=\"body text link\">Sato later apologized<\/a>\u00a0for not disclosing all the hospitals from which he had recruited participants, and admitted a mistake in one paper. But more researchers flagged irregularities about his papers to journals, and in 2016, Grey and colleagues published<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01884-2?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nature%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+-+Issue%29#ref-CR3\" data-track=\"click\" data-action=\"anchor-link\" data-track-label=\"go to reference\" data-track-category=\"references\">3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0an analysis in\u00a0<i>Neurology<\/i>\u00a0that raised concerns about 33 of Sato\u2019s studies. Sato admitted that three of these studies were fraudulent, asked for them to be retracted, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/n.neurology.org\/content\/87\/23\/2388\" data-track=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/n.neurology.org\/content\/87\/23\/2388\" data-track-category=\"body text link\">cleared his co-authors of any wrongdoing<\/a>. Twenty-seven of those studies have now been retracted.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, Grey\u2019s team also flagged their concerns about hundreds of Sato\u2019s papers to four institutions that had co-authors on these studies \u2014 Kurume, Hirosaki and Keio universities in Japan and New York University\u2019s Winthrop Hospital; Sato had been a researcher at Kurume and Hirosaki universities. Two institutions had already launched investigations into some of the work when Grey contacted them, and the others began investigations.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers asked the institutions for the reports of their investigations to understand how they had responded to the allegations. None of the reports revealed exactly who or which papers had been investigated; one found that an unnamed researcher had committed misconduct, and two reports recommended that papers be retracted.<\/p>\n<p>Grey\u2019s team rated each report as inadequate overall. The researchers also suggested that the investigations focused too much on determining whether research misconduct had occurred, rather than on understanding the validity of the research in question and correcting or retracting unreliable articles. Grey and colleagues argue that protecting the integrity of the literature should be the priority of any investigation \u2014 because integrity can be compromised without evidence of misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>Grey says that his and his colleagues\u2019 motivation to pursue the case for so long is to correct the literature that clinicians and patients rely on. Academic institutions, publishers and journals have not been willing or able to do a comprehensive job, he says, so his team has persisted in raising concerns.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Further review<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gunsalus agrees that the Sato case highlights some of the problems with misconduct investigations, and says that if shortcomings emerge, further reviews may be needed. She suggests institutional panels should include external members and that officials should also use a standardized checklist to strengthen their processes. \u201cThere should be some way for journals, funders, patients and others to be assured of the credibility and thoroughness of university reviews,\u201d says Gunsalus.<\/p>\n<p>Grey\u2019s findings also suggest that institutions in Japan \u2014 which has seen several high-profile research misconduct cases in recent decades \u2014 should review their processes for investigating misconduct, says Alan Price, a research-misconduct consultant in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The universities did not respond directly to criticisms of the investigations, which\u00a0<i>Nature\u00a0<\/i>flagged to them, but offered further details about their inquiries and the outcomes. Winthrop Hospital said that it spent more than a year investigating the concerns, including digging up receipts for lab equipment, but found no misconduct. Keio University said that its investigation included external experts and statistical analysis of data; it found no research misconduct, but some errors in methods and typos in studies.<\/p>\n<p>Kurume University asked a committee of statisticians and medical researchers to investigate 39 papers authored by Sato, and found some data falsification and inappropriate authorships. It said that it cannot conclude whether fraud was involved in another 32 papers because Sato is dead and records for these experiments no longer exist. Hirosaki University \u2014 whose\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mext.go.jp\/a_menu\/jinzai\/fusei\/1404087.htm\" data-track=\"click\" data-label=\"http:\/\/www.mext.go.jp\/a_menu\/jinzai\/fusei\/1404087.htm\" data-track-category=\"body text link\">2017 investigation<\/a>\u00a0found \u201cresearch irregularities\u201d in 14 research papers, 7 of which had already been retracted \u2014 did not respond to\u00a0<i>Nature<\/i>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"emphasis\">Nature<\/span>\u00a0<strong>570<\/strong>, 287-288 (2019)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"emphasis\">doi: 10.1038\/d41586-019-01884-2<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>(\uc6d0\ubb38: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-019-01884-2?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nature%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+-+Issue%29\">\uc5ec\uae30<\/a>\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Detailed analysis of misconduct investigations into huge research fraud suggests institutional probes aren\u2019t rigorous enough. &nbsp; &nbsp; Bone-health research was hit by a<a href=\"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=3807\" class=\"more-link\">(more&#8230;)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays-on-science","category-lets-do-science"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1830,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1830","url_meta":{"origin":3807,"position":0},"title":"Austrian agency shows how to tackle scientific misconduct","author":"biochemistry","date":"September 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38) \u00a0 \u00a0 A decade on from a major academic scandal, officials there have got their act together. \u00a0 \u00a0 Austria has made great progress on handling allegations of bad behaviour in the lab.Credit: Getty \u00a0 \u00a0 Many countries are trying to clamp down on scientific misconduct. Last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays on Science&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays on Science","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3897,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=3897","url_meta":{"origin":3807,"position":1},"title":"Scandal-weary Swedish government takes over research-fraud investigations","author":"biochemistry","date":"July 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 The Research Misconduct Board is one of the first national agencies tasked with investigating serious research misconduct. \u00a0 \u00a0 Trachea surgeon Paolo Macchiarini was at the centre of a high-profile case of research misconduct in Sweden.Credit: Lina Alriksson\/DN\/TT\/PA \u00a0 \u00a0 Bruised by a string of high-profile scientific-misconduct cases,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays on Science&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays on Science","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1805,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1805","url_meta":{"origin":3807,"position":2},"title":"University says prominent food researcher committed academic misconduct","author":"biochemistry","date":"September 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38) \u00a0 \u00a0 Brian Wansink will retire at the end of the academic year, according to Cornell University. \u00a0 Food researcher Brian Wansink has had a total of 13 studies retracted from journals.Credit: Lefty Shivambu\/Gallo Images\/Getty \u00a0 \u00a0 Food psychologist Brian Wansink has submitted his resignation to Cornell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays on Science&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays on Science","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3166,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=3166","url_meta":{"origin":3807,"position":3},"title":"Duke University\u2019s huge misconduct fine is a reminder to reward rigour","author":"biochemistry","date":"April 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 US$112.5-million settlement concerning fraudulent data is a casualty of a culture that prizes impact over robustness, says Arturo Casadevall. \u00a0 \u00a0 Last week, Duke University announced it would pay the US government US$112.5 million to settle claims that fraudulent data were used in dozens of research-grant applications. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays on Science&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays on Science","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1440,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1440","url_meta":{"origin":3807,"position":4},"title":"Searching for the man behind one of the biggest frauds in scientific history &#8211; Researcher at the center of an epic fraud remains an enigma to those who exposed him","author":"biochemistry","date":"August 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) \u00a0 \u00a0 JAPAN\u2014The first thing that went through Alison Avenell's head when she heard Yoshihiro Sato had died was that it might be a trick. 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Stem\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Let's Do Biology!&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Let's Do Biology!","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Xo1j-Zp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3808,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807\/revisions\/3808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}