![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() These meetings started back in 2007 and have recently held their 6th edition in Hong Kong last June. The World Conferences on Research Integrity have become an international forum for the study and discussion of ways to promote responsible behavior in research. ![]() Additionally, as resources for research become more limited, in particular in developing countries, it is critical to make sure that scarce research funding are not wasted on low quality or dubious science. In a world immersed in misinformation and conflicting views, the credibility of science itself - and of scientific experts - is more important than ever. These are methodological instruments to be used to guarantee that research will be reliable, reproducible, transparent (declaring conflicts of interest and other competing interests) and published in compliance with good publication practices. In the last few years, several initiatives and programs have been focused on developing and making available resources to help researchers, science managers, funders and publishers ensure that their research is compliant with basic integrity principles. Integrity issues have, therefore, become a serious topic of discussion lately, a problem we are increasingly hearing and reading about. These include: reproducibility issues, electronic detection of plagiarism, predatory journals, retractions, the role of the media, the peer review crisis, quality in laboratory contexts and biased research.ĭefinitions may vary, but all point to the honesty with which scientific research is conducted, reported and communicated. However, as scientific activities have become more competitive, resources more scarce and evaluation systems ever more focused on productivity (“publish or perish”) than on the quality - the actual impacts or societal benefits of research - the need to ensure the integrity of research has become more critical. Ideally, integrity would be an intrinsic part of all aspects of scientific research, which has been a self-regulated activity for centuries, with its own, unwritten codes and principles (academic freedom, peer review, replication, retraction) and this seemed to be good enough as scientific knowledge advanced exponentially in spite of the very few, isolated cases of fraud or misconduct. But science is made by scientists, and scientists are human, no different from other human beings in terms of needs, flaws, biases, egos, strengths and weaknesses… As a scientist myself, it never ceases to amaze me how far we have come in our understanding of the mechanisms of life and in technological development throughout human history. Scientific integrity: what is it and why it´s important ![]()
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