Emeritus of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons , New York , USA.
Account Res. 2019 Aug;26(6):369-378. doi: 10.1080/08989621.2019.1646644. Epub 2019 Aug 20.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have established separate administrative mechanisms for investigation and adjudication of alleged research misconduct. This report compares research misconduct at NSF and NIH and the possible effects of their respective methods of investigation and adjudication. Notable and paradoxical findings were identified: NIH supported four times the number of grants as NSF, yet NSF reviewed 2.5 times the number of research misconduct reports. NSF faculty were two-times more likely to be found guilty (88%) than faculty at NIH (42%). 83.6% of NSF offenders were guilty of plagiarism, vs. 4.8% at NIH. NSF trainees made up 6% of the guilty, vs. 42% at NIH. These findings are most likely related to the nature of their respective sciences, scientists, and the nature of their publications. Investigative policies and procedures are quite similar at these two agencies with the exception of the subpoena power available to the NSF's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) where it would be infrequently utilized in investigations of its predominant offense, plagiarism. However, it could prove useful if made available to the NIH Office of Research Integrity (ORI) for investigations of fabrication/falsification, its most common offense. Federal criteria for prosecution should be modified to increase the likelihood of prosecution of serious offenders referred by ORI.
美国国家科学基金会（NSF）和美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）为调查和裁决涉嫌科研不端行为建立了单独的管理机制。本报告比较了 NSF 和 NIH 的科研不端行为及其各自调查和裁决方法的可能影响。报告发现了一些显著而矛盾的现象：NIH 支持的拨款数量是 NSF 的四倍，但 NSF 审查的科研不端报告数量却是 NIH 的 2.5 倍。NSF 的教职员工被判定有罪的可能性是 NIH 的两倍（88%比 42%）。83.6%的 NSF 违规者犯有剽窃罪，而 NIH 只有 4.8%。NSF 的学员占有罪者的 6%，而 NIH 则占 42%。这些发现很可能与各自科学、科学家的性质以及出版物的性质有关。这两个机构的调查政策和程序非常相似，除了 NSF 监察长办公室（OIG）拥有的传票权，该权力在调查其主要违规行为剽窃时很少使用。然而，如果为调查其最常见的违规行为伪造/篡改提供该权力，那么这对 NIH 研究诚信办公室（ORI）可能会很有用。联邦起诉标准应加以修改，以增加 ORI 转介的严重违规者被起诉的可能性。
