SHOULD INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARDS FOR RESEARCH ETHICS BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR RETRACTED PUBLICATIONS FROM ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY?

Abstract

In recent times there has been evidence of many publications across academia and industry being retracted for various ethical violations in research including data Fabrication, Manipulation, Falsification, and Plagiarism despite the widespread Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to uphold Research Ethics from conceptualizing a study, publication of results and implementation of findings. Although the structure and membership composition of IRBs may vary globally, they all have converging guidelines. This study tackles research misconduct by holding Institutional Review Boards accountable for retracted articles, employing interest analysis and principle-based idea analysis in critically reviewing my concerns. Based on the evidence from the literature on the increasing numbers of retracted papers that have had ethical clearance, I argued that, if IRBs are doing their job correctly, research misconduct should be minimal. Further, if research misconduct resulting in retracted publications becomes a spreading problem that attracts sanctions, then IRBs must be considered as part of the problem and should suffer sanctions too.

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