Great news! Ethical scientists "might be getting better at “pushing” their findings in the desired direction and stopping right before the “misconduct threshold” or at avoiding getting caught if they trespass it."

PLoS Med. 2013 Dec;10(12):e1001563. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001563. Epub 2013 Dec 3.

Why growing retractions are (mostly) a good sign.

Fanelli D.

Source

Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Abstract

In a new Essay in the Research Integrity Series, Daniele Fanelli examines the evidence and possible reasons for the rising number of retractions. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

"Even if more obvious (and therefore easily detectable) forms of misconduct turn out to be stable or declining, bias and subtle forms of falsification might still be on the rise (Box 2). Ironically, this would be a consequence of the growing awareness of misconduct suggested by my analyses. Rather like professional athletes, who strive to maximize performance-enhancing practices within the allowed limits, scientists might be getting better at “pushing” their findings in the desired direction and stopping right before the “misconduct threshold” or at avoiding getting caught if they trespass it. Survey data support this scenario, by showing that, while researchers have become less likely to admit having committed scientific misconduct, they are not less likely to report having observed it amongst colleagues[13]."