SCIENTIFIC DISHONESTY AND GOOD SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE

Scientific dishonesty has been the subject of much public interest in recent years. AlthOugh the problem has had a low profile in Denmark, t here is no reason to believe that it is non-existent. Several precondi tions known to be important prevail here as well as in other countries , such as pressure to publish and severe competition for research gran ts and senior academic positions. The Danish Medical Research Council (DMRC) decided to respond to this problem by preparing a report on sci entific dishonesty with suggestions to the research institutions on ru les for good scientific practice and procedures for investigation of s uspected dishonesty. To this end, an investigatory system was suggeste d. The system should consist of two regional committees and one nation al committee. They should be headed by high court judges and experienc ed health sciences researhers as members. The committees will investig ate cases reported to them and conclude on whether dishonesty has been established and on whether the scientific work should be retracted. S anctions shall remain the task of the institutions. Preventive measure s comprise open access to and a long storage period for scientific dat a.