Research Integrity: Collaborative Research

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Research Integrity Collaborative Research

• Michelle Stickler, DEd
• Office for Research Protections
• 814-865-1175
• mmc115_at_psu.edu
• www.research.psu.edu

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Reasons to Collaborate

• Complexity of research
• Funding opportunities
• Ease of communications

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Potential Challenges

• Different personalities / styles
• Different research practices
• Compliance considerations
• Intellectual property

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Keys to Successful Collaborationfrom Macrina, F.
Scientific Integrity An Introductory Text with
Cases. Second Edition. American Society for
Microbiology Press. 2000.

• COMMUNICATION! Discuss
• Responsibilities
• Publication and authorship
• Data and materials
• Intellectual property

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Keys to Successful Collaborationfrom Macrina, F.
Scientific Integrity An Introductory Text with
Cases. Second Edition. American Society for
Microbiology Press. 2000.

• COMMUNICATION! Discuss
• Responsibilities
• Publication and authorship
• Data and materials
• Intellectual property

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Responsible Authorship

• What to publish
• Proper citation
• Authorship credit and responsibility

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What to Publish

• New and substantial findings or analysis
• Avoid salami publication (LPU/MPU)
• Avoid duplicate submission publication
• Objective and unbiased
• Avoid misleading claims
• Clearly and openly describe methods
• Use statistics appropriately and accurately
• Acknowledge limitations

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Scenario
From Ethics and Policy in Scientific Publication
(1990), Council of Biology Editors, Inc.,
Bethesda, MD, p. 70.

• A researcher reports on his work in a controlled
  circulation, or throwaway, newsletter produced
  and distributed free by a professional society in
  the field. He writes a similar report and
  submits it to a peer-reviewed journal. The
  report in the newsletter is already being cited
  in the peer-reviewed literature. The editor of
  the journal rejects the paper on the grounds that
  the material has already been published, citing
  rules and arguments regarding duplicate
  publication. The author states that the earlier
  report did not constitute publication, because
  the throwaway newsletter was not peer-reviewed,
  not generally available through libraries, and
  not indexed and abstracted by secondary services.

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Discussion Questions

• What constitutes prior publication?
• How do you define throwaway publication in your
  discipline?
• Does the author have a valid argument?
• Is duplicate publication ever acceptable?

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Proper Citation

• Adequately and accurately cite literature
• Include adequate references to document ideas
• Verify that referenced works are consistent with
  the ideas and information credited to them
• Cite original sources
• Check the accuracy of citations

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Discussion Question

• Should you acknowledge (and cite) prior
  research published in a throwaway publication
  or white paper?

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Keys to Successful Collaborationfrom Macrina, F.
Scientific Integrity An Introductory Text with
Cases. Second Edition. American Society for
Microbiology Press. 2000.

• COMMUNICATION! Discuss
• Responsibilities
• Publication and authorship
• Data and materials
• Intellectual property

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Responsible Data Management

• Data Selection experimental design, protocol
  submission, approval by institutional
  committee(s)
• Data Collection ensuring quality avoiding
  bias, adequate recordkeeping
• Analysis Selection statistical analyses,
  criteria for including excluding data
• Data Ownership responsibility and rights for
  collection, use, and sharing
• Data Retention duration, security, and
  accessibility
• Sharing of Data what to share, when, and with
  whom

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Data Collection

• How will data be recorded what conventions?
• Are all personnel trained to use instruments?
• Have QA measures been implemented?
• Has QC process been identified?

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Quality Assurance

• Detailed list of data items to be collected
• Step-by step instructions for administering
  instruments, making adjustments to, and
  calibrating instruments
• Process for training all research personnel
• Mechanism for documenting changes in procedures

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Quality Control

• Errors requiring prompt action
• Errors in individual data items
• Systematic errors
• Violation of protocol
• Problems with staff or site performance
• Research misconduct

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Improper Data Collection Consequences

• Inability to answer research questions accurately
• Inability to repeat or validate the study
• Distorted findings wasted resources
• Misleading to other scholars
• Compromise decisions for public policy
• Causing harm to human participants

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Scenario

• Discuss the Lazy Students case

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Data Handling

• Be sure to consider
• Who has access to which data
• Data handling procedures
• Plan for long-term storage disposal

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Scenario

• Discuss the Data Gone Astray case

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Data Analysis

• Come to agreement on
• Missing data points
• Outliers
• Presenting derived vs. raw data
• Reporting significant and insignificant results
• Train data raters to reduce inconsistencies

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Keys to Successful Collaborationfrom Macrina, F.
Scientific Integrity An Introductory Text with
Cases. Second Edition. American Society for
Microbiology Press. 2000.

• COMMUNICATION! Discuss
• Responsibilities
• Publication and authorship
• Data and materials
• Intellectual property

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Data Sharing

• Factors influencing the decision to share
• Proprietary, economic, or security concerns
• Providing all materials needed
• Technical obstacles
• Confidentiality
• Concerns about qualifications of data requesters
• Costs associated with sharing

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Data Sharing

• Recommendations
• Pre-publication open data policy with
  appropriate caution
• Willingness to share data post-publication with
  other researchers within reason

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Communication Successful Research Quality
Research!