Boetto Erik, Golinelli Davide, Carullo Gherardo, Fantini Maria Pia
Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
J Med Ethics. 2020 Oct 6. doi: 10.1136/medethics-2020-106639.
Frauds and misconduct have been common in the history of science. Recent events connected to the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted how the risks and consequences of this are no longer acceptable. Two papers, addressing the treatment of COVID-19, have been published in two of the most prestigious medical journals; the authors declared to have analysed electronic health records from a private corporation, which apparently collected data of tens of thousands of patients, coming from hundreds of hospitals. Both papers have been retracted a few weeks later. When such events happen, the confidence of the population in scientific research is likely to be weakened. This paper highlights how the current system endangers the reliability of scientific research, and the very foundations of the trust system on which modern healthcare is based. Having shed light on the dangers of a system without appropriate monitoring, the proposed analysis suggests to strengthen the existing journal policies and improve the research process using new technologies supporting control activities by public authorities. Among these solutions, we mention the promising aspects of the blockchain technology which seems a promising solution to avoid the repetition of the mistakes linked to the recent and past history of research.
欺诈和不当行为在科学史上屡见不鲜。与新冠疫情相关的近期事件凸显出，此类行为的风险和后果已不再能被接受。两篇关于新冠治疗的论文发表在两份最具声望的医学期刊上；作者宣称对一家私人公司的电子健康记录进行了分析，该公司显然收集了来自数百所医院的数万名患者的数据。几周后，这两篇论文均被撤回。当此类事件发生时，公众对科学研究的信心可能会被削弱。本文强调了当前体系如何危及科学研究的可靠性，以及现代医疗所基于的信任体系的根基。在揭示了缺乏适当监管的体系的危险之后，所提出的分析建议强化现有期刊政策，并利用支持公共当局控制活动的新技术改进研究过程。在这些解决方案中，我们提到了区块链技术的前景，它似乎是避免重蹈与近期及过往研究历史相关错误的一个有前途的解决方案。
