Reporting unethical research behavior

Scientists, as professionals, have a responsibility to self-regulate. Howev er, whistleblowing is rare. We investigated scientists' infrequent disclosu re of unethical behavior by studying their responses to scenarios describin g unethical research acts and compared their responses to those of research administrators. A cross-sectional survey war administered to National Scie nce Foundation-funded principal investigators and their institutions' repre sentatives (IRs) to the Office of Research Integrity. Both scientists and I Rs proposed to respond to nearly all research behaviors that they rated as unethical. Scientists more often proposed responses limited to the research team (58% vs. 25% of cases, p < .001) whereas IRs more often proposed to i nform an administrator or dean, journal editor; funding agency, professiona l society, or reporter. The prior behavior and academic rank of the scenari o protagonist were associated with responses, but consequences of the uneth ical behavior were not. Scientists appear to perceive that they uphold thei r responsibility to respond to unethical behavior by disclosures within the research team, whereas administrators propose to report to externally acco untable individuals, raising the question of whether scientists' behavior c onstitutes professional self-regulation or cover up.