Four senior research scientists respond to plagiarism accusations against former Harvard University President Claudine Gay Appointment of faculty Professors at Harvard Medical School were accused of manipulating data in some of their published studies, forcing them to retract some papers and amend dozens more.
On January 2, the same day Gaye resigned as president of Harvard University amid accusations that he had committed as many as 50 plagiarisms, Sholto David… british scientist He completed his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology at Newcastle University and published a detailed thesis. blog post He accused Harvard University researchers of “falsifying data.”
“While the entire world debates furiously over whether or not the president of Harvard University used quotation marks in the proper places… there is a skeleton lurking in the archives that is far worse than plagiarism,” David wrote. .of Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteHarvard University Teaching Hospital, Boston: CEO Dr. Laurie Glimcher, Chief Operating Officer Dr. William Hahn, Dr. Eileen Ghobrial, Clinical Investigator Research Program Director, and Kenneth Lipper, Program Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center. Dr. Anderson.
David generally accuses Glimcher, Hahn, Gobrial, and Anderson of manipulating, and in some cases copying and pasting, images from a total of 57 published manuscripts, and David calls this deception “a matter of all kinds of subterfuges.” “This is the last resort taken by scientists who have failed in the end.” I didn't get the results I expected. ” David's post also includes a number of images from the four scientists' research, and clearly identifies which of them he believes to be examples of photoshopping or “image duplication.” is specified.
Described by the New York Post as a “data detective,” David uses a lot of arcane language aimed at a specific audience familiar with research data, making the accusations difficult for lay readers to parse. . But his accusations so alarmed DFCI that the accused researchers have already “taken swift and decisive action” and retracted six of the 57 papers in which the images were allegedly doctored. and revised the content of 31 other studies, said Barrett J. Kenneth, DFCI research integrity officer. Rollins said. harvard crimson.
While Rollins acknowledged that at least 38 of the articles David referenced contained “possible data errors,” the errors were not as ethically egregious as David claimed. He warned that it may not have been the case. “The existence of discrepancies in images within the paper is not evidence of deceptive intent on the part of the authors. That conclusion can only be drawn after a careful fact-based investigation, which is an integral part of our response. You can,” Rollins insisted.
“In our experience, mistakes are often unintentional and do not rise to the level of misconduct,” he added.
Rollins also said that DFCI had already begun investigating some of the research prior to David's post, and that the three papers David referred to were free from errors, so “no further action was required.” They argued that the other 16 papers included research conducted in laboratories not affiliated with the four DCFIs. scientists. “To the extent possible, we will reach out to the directors of all other institutes and work with them to see if they will amend the literature in accordance with legitimate grounds,” Rollins said.
“We are committed to a culture of responsibility and integrity,” Rollins added. “Any investigation into research integrity will be thoroughly investigated.”
But David stands by his work. “Some facilities have a population of people with image issues,” he said. US News and World Reports. “How many mistakes do people make that you can just say, 'That was an innocent mistake'?”
Glimcher, Hahn, Gobrial and Anderson did not respond to requests for comment from David or the New York Post. The newspaper also reached out to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for comment.
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