Integrity in scientific research: A Christian perspective

Misconduct and a lack of personal integrity is increasingly detected within scientific research, as it is in many other areas of public life. Examples include fraud, data manipulation, bias, conflicts of interest and plagiarism. This can lead to public mistrust of science, as well as being a waste of resources. This paper considers some of the causes of the problem and describes how scientists should follow principles of honesty, humility and truth-seeking, values that are integral to Christian ethics. These principles apply not just to scientific research but to all aspects of human endeavour and our approach to research should be the same as the principles that govern every aspect of Christian behaviour.

Introduction

Several recent surveys have shown that as many as 50 per cent of researchers claim to have witnessed research misconduct, while about five per cent admit to having personally engaged in some form of misconduct.^[3] One report even claimed that as much as half of the scientific literature may be untrue.^[4] The degree of misbehaviour varies from the severe, such as deliberate fraud and ‘inventing’ or manipulating data, to questions of attribution and authorship, as well as issues of plagiarism, bias, exaggeration and conflicts of interest. Misconduct is probably most common in biomedicine, where the competition and rewards are often greatest, but it can be found in almost all areas of research.^[5] Although this paper focuses on science, examples of fraud are known in most disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, music and even ethics.^[6]

Examples of gross fraud in science could include the hoax hominid skull ‘Piltdown Man’^[7] or the inflated ego of Jan Schön who fraudulently claimed breakthroughs in semiconductor research, winning several international prizes, that were subsequently rescinded.^[8] More recently, fraudulent claims that the MMR vaccine caused autism led to unfounded fears about vaccination and a decrease in its uptake.^[9] These extreme examples are eventually resolved as progress in science is self-correcting. However, there are numerous examples of other breaches of academic integrity, which waste time and resources,^[10] risking lives when falsified research leads to inappropriate medical treatments. Science has a role in informing public policy and fraudulent research leads to a public mistrust of science. Breaches of scientific integrity appear to be increasing, though it is not clear whether this is due to a greater incidence or to better vigilance. Nonetheless, any breaches of research integrity should be a matter of concern. Given that science is supposed to be about discovering facts about the way that the world works and developing reasonable hypotheses to explain them, we must ask serious questions about why this happens, and address the personal and institutional pressures that foster poor behaviour.

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