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Responsibly conducting researchBy Chris Tachibana Jan. 29, 2016 , 9:00 AM
High-profile retractions of papers forfalsification, misrepresentation, and dishonestreviews are a blow to science. They add urgencyto ongoing campaigns for responsible conduct ofresearch (RCR). RCR is every scientist’sobligation, say researchers who have made RCRpart of their scholarship. To promote high-quality science with lasting impact, these experts
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7/14/17, 5(28 PMResponsibly conducting research | Science | AAAS
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quality science with lasting impact, these expertsrecommend individual actions and institutionalpolicies that will create a culture of RCR.
Virginia Barbour ERCE; LARRYPEIPERL
Outright scientific fraud is fortunately rare. More pervasive and
arguably more damaging to science is hastily conducted, poorlyreported, irreproducible research. To combat this problem, prominentorganizations have launched campaigns to raise awareness about it,explore its root causes, and promote RCR resources. For example,Science helped develop the Transparency and Openness Promotion(TOP) guidelines. The American Society for Cell Biology is behind thedraft of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment(DORA). An international initiative has formed the Enhancing theQUAlity and Transparency Of health Research (EQUATOR) Network.And an initiative from The Lancet is fighting waste in biomedicalresearch.
These and other programs address an expanding catalog of RCRissues. The list of topics is overwhelming. It includes validation ofreagents, secure and transparent data handling, full reporting ofstudies including negative results, proper assignment of authorship,and open access to publications. But we can meet these challenges,say researchers with years of RCR experience, if we all take steps topromote best research and publication practices. We should start withour own work, then encourage trainees, peers, and our institution.
Create a responsible cultureIt all begins with attitude, saysVirginia Barbour, chair of theCommittee on PublicationEthics (COPE). "The bottomline," she says, "is that theculture of the group and theinstitution determines howpeople conduct their research."From the moment you walk intothe lab, she says, practicetransparency: "Expect thateverything you do is public.Make sure that other people can look at your work and know exactlywhat you did." Leaders promote transparency by regularlycommunicating with junior researchers, encouraging opendiscussions throughout the group, and taking RCR policies seriously.For example, Australia, where Barbour resides, follows the AustralianCode for the Responsible Conduct of Research. Once you have thatculture in place, says Barbour, layer on specific elements such as datamanagement, recordkeeping, and publication plans.
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Just knowing RCR rules does not guaranteeethical behavior. Wanting to be ethical is the“
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Francis Macrina PHOTO:COURTESY OF
VCU OFFICE OFRESEARCH AND
INNOVATION
Ioanna Semendeferi
Preparation is important. "Before you start experiments," saysBarbour, "think about how you will manage your data, notebook,
images, and analysis software associated with the project."Authorship is one of the biggest challenges that COPE deals with,Barbour says, and should also be addressed at the beginning of astudy. Be clear about the contribution of each person considered forauthorship and remember to credit junior researchers. "You and yourcollaborators might not agree in the beginning about who will beauthors and their order," she says, "but at least agree on the processof deciding authorship." This initial investment will pay off when youwrite up results. When protocols and procedures are in place from thebeginning, accurate reporting at the end is easier.
Barbour was a founding editor of the open-access journal PLOS
Medicine and is now executive officer for the Australasian OpenAccess Support Group. Researchers understand that open accesspromotes equity by making results available to all scientists andshowing taxpayers the products of public funding, says Barbour.However, early career researchers in particular can feel torn betweenthe demand for publications in certain journals and the open accesspublication model.
To increase the accessibility of scientific publications, many fundingagencies now require articles to be publicly archived, for example inPubMed Central. Australian funders demand at least deposition of theauthor-accepted manuscript in an institutional repository. Someuniversities, including Harvard and the University of California SanFrancisco, have policies and repositories for this purpose. These are allsteps toward recognizing and rewarding high-quality science that isclearly documented and can be validated and verified, says Barbour:"Research that is done well and reported well. That's what we shouldbe aiming for."
Keep up with RCR developmentsMaintaining a culture ofresponsible research meanskeeping an eye on evolvingRCR issues. Francis Macrina,vice president for research andinnovation at VirginiaCommonwealth University(VCU), has tracked RCRchanges since he started anRCR course in the 1980s,before the National Institutesof Health and other fundersbegan requiring ethicsinstruction for many trainees.He still teaches the course,and his experience and case
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ethical behavior. Wanting to be ethical is thekey.
“”
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Semendeferi (left) and Pavlidis PHOTO:PROFESSOR
BETTYSMOCOVITIS
and his experience and casestudies are collected in his textbook on scientific integrity. Macrinahas seen RCR grow to include a focus on data transparency,treatment, and storage; verification of cell lines, antibodies, and otherreagents; parameters for working with the media; and the expansionof publication guidelines including "dual-use" biosecurity reporting forresults that might be used for weapons development. Referring to the
TOP Guidelines, he says, "We'll also probably see these enteringpractice incrementally."
To get an overview of current RCR requirements and issues in yourfield, Macrina suggests starting with journal author instructions. COPEand the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors havegeneral publishing guidelines. Discipline-specific information isavailable from professional organizations such as the Society forNeuroscience and the American Chemical Society.
Macrina's office at VCU oversees industry collaborations, which raiseadditional RCR considerations. Examples include how long a companycan delay manuscript submission for intellectual property review andwhether students should work on industry-sponsored projects. "VCUhas a corporate-sponsored research policy," Macrina says, soacademic scientists thinking about an industry partnership shouldcheck with their technology transfer or commercialization centerabout similar documents. Experts at these centers can providebackground, guidance, and advocacy in developing partnershipagreements.
Companies want to collaborate with scientists who apply bestpractices because RCR is critical to the science-based industry, saysChristopher J. Roberts, associate director of computational biologyat Biogen Idec. When developing a drug or device, he explains,everything has to be absolutely dependable. "If you can't replicatesomething or get reliable results from a preclinical assay that you'll berunning repeatedly," he says, "you'll never get a drug that works in theclinical phase." Companies also understand that peer-reviewedarticles are important for the career development of their ownscientists and their university collaborators, so many have establishedpublication policies. However, the closer you get to a product, Robertssays, the more constraints you'll find on publishing. This is why, foruniversity collaborations, Roberts says, "We set up legal agreements inadvance that spell out intellectual property considerations and apublication strategy and timeline."
Train new scientists in RCRTo achieve the aim of aubiquitous culture of RCR,early career researchers needto be trained in RCR principles.Scientists have always learnedtheir craft from mentors, butthe faster pace and increasedcomplexity of research nowdemands more formal trainingin best practices. A
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in best practices. Acomprehensive, multimethod, history-based approach to RCR trainingis underway at the University of Houston. Associate Instructional andResearch Professor Ioanna Semendeferi of the Department ofPhysics led development of a three-credit course with validatedevaluation methods supported by the National Science Foundation.The core principle of the course is that best practices follow whenscientists internalize ethical values. "Just knowing RCR rules does notguarantee ethical behavior," says Semendeferi. "Wanting to be ethicalis the key."
Ioannis Pavlidis, Computational Physiology Lab director, co-teachesthe course and helped develop it. "Semendeferi's approach is [to]lecture with visual elements like movies and documentaries that addemotional richness and cultivate empathy," he says. Course activitiesinclude in-class debates, a peer-review exercise supervised by a seniorscientist, observing research with animals and human participants,and interpreting science ethics commentaries in national newspapers.The project also organizes a public seminar series on science historyand ethics.
Semendeferi and Pavlidis recommend general science ethics coursesthat mix students from engineering, humanities, and social andnatural sciences. "Everyone coming together is an education by itself,"says Semendeferi. She says that hearing different viewpoints makesstudents aware of the decisions involved in doing ethical science andof their personal responsibility for their work. Stephanie Watts,professor of pharmacology and toxicology and assistant dean of thegraduate school at Michigan State University (MSU), has had thesame experience in a workshop series she coordinates that takes apractical approach to RCR issues. Watts says when students frommultiple disciplines and countries hold discussions, they oftenspontaneously raise questions about expectations and norms in otherfields and cultures. Examples are honorary authorship, which might beexpected in some countries but against journal guidelines, or anengineer's impulse to precisely duplicate published text aboutmethods, which can result in self-plagiarism. "We recognize thatdifferent parts of the world have different rules," says Watts, "So wetalk about having conversations at the beginning of a collaborationabout data sharing, authorship, and other publication issues. We talkabout how plagiarism is stealing someone else's work, and no societyallows stealing."
Watts and Pavlidis say teaching RCR has influenced their ownresearch. "Reading and thinking about these issues has made me abetter mentor," says Watts. "I talk with lab members often so I knowwhat they're doing. I see raw data from the start to the end of a projectand we all interrogate each other in lab meetings about how we gotour data and what they mean." Watts says keeping close track ofeveryone's work is just part of her job. "I tell them it's not because Idon't trust them but to make sure we agree on the approach and whatwe see in the data. It's an RCR issue."
Teaching RCR has also affected Pavlidis's research on methods tomeasure physiological variables, such as for sleep, exercise, anddexterity. "We handle a lot of data," he says, "so we try to betransparent about it." For a project on measuring drivers' responses
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transparent about it." For a project on measuring drivers' responsesunder stress, data are posted online as they accumulate. "Open datasharing lets everyone trace our conclusions from A to Z," he says. Hisgroup practices team science, cultivating a culture of mutual respectand credit sharing that recognizes both intellectual and technicalcontributions. Everyone understands the arrangement from thebeginning, he says: For a given project, technical contributors get firstcredit in methods papers, while theoretical publications highlightother team members.
Promote RCR in departments and institutionsFormal courses mean that students, postdocs, and faculty who teachRCR are well versed in current issues in best research practices. Forsenior faculty educated before RCR training requirements cameabout, Watts says getting involved in an RCR course is a goodintroduction and can be fun. For the MSU workshops, Watts recruitscolleagues as speakers, and students choose faculty members to betheir research integrity consultants—their sounding board for RCRdiscussions. At VCU, Macrina recruits two or three faculty membersper session to facilitate case discussions and gives them a one-hourtraining session on the basics of the course material.
However, even this time commitment might seem like a burden tooverworked faculty. Watts leads her own research group, so shesympathizes with scientists who say they already spend up to 40percent of their time on regulatory work. To handle the paperwork, sherecommends taking advantage of institutional offices that help withInstitutional Review Board proposals and radiation safetyrequirements, for example. But for scientists to stay motivated in theface of increasing regulations, widespread changes in culture andattitudes are needed. When Watts feels overwhelmed by regulations,she tells herself: "It's a privilege to have a lab and I'm lucky to be doingthis work supported by taxpayer dollars. You want to do your scienceright, so your colleagues trust your work and you trust theirs."
Macrina agrees, and he questions the value of data that can't bereproduced. Although every new requirement adds bureaucracy, hesays, "It's all about public trust." Trust is critical for the reputation ofthe researcher, the institution, and science in general. "It sounds like acliché," he says, "but if we want research to have an impact, peopleneed to trust researchers."
For culture change at the institutional level, we need to align hiring andpromotion practices with RCR. Pavlidis and Semendeferi recommendrewarding scientists for mentoring, especially in RCR. Semendeferisays, "Just demanding particular behaviors without eliminating theconditions that lead to unethical practices will not solve the issues."We can all contribute to change, she says: "Individual scientists havethe ability and power to make a difference."
The message that paper counts and journal impact factors don'trepresent true research value is reaching the academy. Macrina warnsthat moving away from these simple measures will take time."Determining research quality isn't easy," he says. "Hiring committeeshave to seek and gather evidence to evaluate each publication, insteadof just counting papers in high-impact journals." However, he isencouraged by initiatives like DORA, and by scientific leaders like
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encouraged by initiatives like DORA, and by scientific leaders likeNational Medal of Science awardee Bruce Alberts who publiclycriticize using impact factors to assess research productivity. Wattsnotes that these discussions are already having an effect. "Iunderstand that young scientists feel pressured to move quickly andproduce high-impact publications," she says. "But I'm involved in a jobsearch right now and I'm looking for people who do their work with
integrity, can finish what they start, and do solid science that otherscan build on—that's who I want to hire."
Additional Resources
Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of healthResearch (EQUATOR) Network
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors(ICMJE)
San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment(DORA)
Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines
Featured Participants
Australasian Open Access Support Group
Biogen Idec
Michigan State University
University of Houston
Virginia Commonwealth University
Posted in: Advice, Midcareer, Academic, Life SciencesThis article was published as a feature in the 29 January 2016 issue of Science.DOI: 10.1126/science.opms.r1600161
Chris Tachibana
Chris Tachibana is a science writer based in Seattle, USA, and Copenhagen,Denmark.
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