A review of annual statements on research integrity from U.K. institutions in 2023–2024, with a focus on research fraud

Abstract

Abstract Estimates of the frequency of research misconduct appear much higher in self-report surveys than would be expected from numbers of institutional investigations, but there is little hard data on this topic. U.K. universities produce annual statements on research integrity. The most recent statements were analyzed and compared with evidence of fabrication/falsification of data from reports on the PubPeer website. In 117 institutional statements with usable data, there were only 25 allegations of fabrication or falsification involving 13 universities. On PubPeer comments in 2023 for all publications that included a lead U.K. author there were 49 comments describing fabrication/falsification of data (mostly digitally manipulated images), and 28 with hallmarks of a paper mill. Only nine universities had more than one PubPeer entry compatible with fabrication/falsification, but four of these involved senior researchers with multiple problematic publications; in none of these cases had the institution upheld an allegation of misconduct. It is recommended that it should not be left to the employing institution to deal with allegations of serious research misconduct, that PubPeer could be used proactively in investigations of misconduct, and that research integrity reports should be made openly available to increase confidence in the process.

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