The German Federal Administrative Court (the highest court for such matters) decided yesterday on the appeal of Jan Hendrik Schön. Schön, a research shooting star physicist in the area of nanotechnology, was fired from Bell Labs in 2002 for falsifying data (see Nature: News, 26 September 2002).
The University of Konstanz in Germany revoked his doctorate in 2004 on the basis of having demonstrated that he was unfit to hold a doctorate. He sued, but lost both in the lower (VG Freiburg (Breisgau) 1. Kammer, 1 K 2248/09) and in the upper court
(Verwaltungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg 9. Senat, 9 S 2667/10).
The University of Konstanz has published a press release (in German) with a detailed recap of the long case.
Showing posts with label falsification. Show all posts
Showing posts with label falsification. Show all posts
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Stapel retracts another two papers
The Dutch researcher Diederik Stapel, accused of making up data on a grand scale, has been forced to retract two more papers, according to Retraction Watch. The universities of Tilburg, Groningen, and Amsterdam have set up a joint web site for documenting their findings. They are in the process of analyzing all papers published by him and questioning all co-authors. This is a good way of letting the public know what is currently happening. The list of fraud currently determined is, however, depressingly long.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Fabrication of Data
An open access research article on data fabrication:
Citation: Fanelli D (2009) How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data. PLoS ONE 4(5): e5738. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005738
Editor: Tom Tregenza, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Invented Publications
The German news magazine Spiegel reports on a major scandal at the University of Göttingen. An interdisciplinary group of sixteen scientists researching the rain forest in Indonesia had previously been awarded a prestigious "Sonderforschungsbereich" (SFB) by the German research foundation, DFG. The researchers were applying for an 8.6 million Euro extension of the research project.
But the external reviewers were quite irritated - they couldn't find many of the supposed publications listed on the report for how the first grant had been used. After an internal university investigation, it was determined that the publications did not, in fact, exist. The university withdrew the grant application.
There will now be more exact scrutiny of the money spent up until now, and whether it was used for the research or for other purposes. And another research group at the same university on biodiversity is currently under investigation for similar problems, according to the university president, who is worried as to how these incidents will affect the reputation of the university.
The University of Göttingen has been awarded "elite" status by the German government. On the one hand, it is questionable if this status is compatible with such goings-on, especially if they are regularly happening. On the other hand, the university is acting correctly in investigating the cases and in withdrawing the application. One wonders how many universities just sweep things like this under the carpet after rapping the knuckles of the parties involved.
One does, however, hope that the principle investigators will be degraded to cleaning toilets or some such punishment and not continue researching at full pay. I can't find a statement about the situation on the home pages of the university, but I do see that there will be a seminar on reputation management this coming week. I suppose the university will be sending someone to audit the course.
But the external reviewers were quite irritated - they couldn't find many of the supposed publications listed on the report for how the first grant had been used. After an internal university investigation, it was determined that the publications did not, in fact, exist. The university withdrew the grant application.
There will now be more exact scrutiny of the money spent up until now, and whether it was used for the research or for other purposes. And another research group at the same university on biodiversity is currently under investigation for similar problems, according to the university president, who is worried as to how these incidents will affect the reputation of the university.
The University of Göttingen has been awarded "elite" status by the German government. On the one hand, it is questionable if this status is compatible with such goings-on, especially if they are regularly happening. On the other hand, the university is acting correctly in investigating the cases and in withdrawing the application. One wonders how many universities just sweep things like this under the carpet after rapping the knuckles of the parties involved.
One does, however, hope that the principle investigators will be degraded to cleaning toilets or some such punishment and not continue researching at full pay. I can't find a statement about the situation on the home pages of the university, but I do see that there will be a seminar on reputation management this coming week. I suppose the university will be sending someone to audit the course.
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