science misconduct

[William L. Siler, Ph.d.]

Dear Colleagues:

I recently posted the responses to my inquiry regarding
investigations of alleged science misconduct/science fraud to the
list. At that time, I presented no synthesis of themes.
What follows is my personal assessment of the issues raised in
the responses. This list may provide a convenient framework for
discussion. In the meantime, what I think is a very
important question went unaddressed in any of the responses.
What is sloppy data? I am still looking for an operational
definition. Would you know it if you saw it (assuming you
could not see how the data was actually collected)? In the
meantime, consider the following related issues:

1) Community standards and the enforcement of those standards

- licensing or other "Codes of Good Practice"
- peer review
- central repositories of data

2) Procedures for investigating allegations

- who should coordinate investigations?
- who should fund investigations?
- who should serve as investigators?

I look forward to your input.

William (Bill) Siler, Ph.D.
Saint Louis University
silerwl@sluvca.slu.edu