A PERCEPTION that rewards are not being doled out fairly may be fuelling a culture of professional misbehaviour by researchers at top US research universities.
Last year a survey by sociologist Brian Martinson of HealthPartners Research Foundation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and colleagues produced evidence suggesting that scientific integrity was threatened by a widespread culture of minor misdemeanours, not just a few cases of outright fraud.
They found that scientists often change the design or methodology of a study to suit a sponsor, suppress data, or fail to credit collaborators (Â鶹´«Ã½, 11 June 2005, p 4).
Now a survey…
