December 15, 2000
British Medical Establishment Ignores Research Fraud, Journal Editors Charge By KAREN BIRCHARD
The editors of the three most prestigious medical journals in Britain charged on Tuesday that a number of researchers are fabricating results to win grants and advance their careers -- putting people's lives at risk -- and that the British medical establishment has failed repeatedly to do anything to correct the situation.
The editors described the problem of medical-research fraud as "surfacing like a decomposing corpse," saying that the profession's self-regulatory bodies are doing nothing to deter those who are tempted to submit tainted research to journals.
Richard Horton of The Lancet, Richard Smith of the British Medical Journal, and Michael Farthing of Gut denounced the General Medical Council and the Academy of Medical Sciences -- the umbrella group representing the Royal Colleges -- for failing to set up a national watchdog body similar to the unit in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that monitors scientific research and tries to prevent fraud.
Dr. Horton said the professional bodies should be taking the lead in stamping out fraud. He said they have been especially negligent in promoting research integrity. "They have issued two sets of guidelines, neither of which deals with research misconduct," he said at a press conference, adding that they appear to be more interested in protecting the profession. "Medical research used to be about disinterested inquiry, but it is now about ruthless competition between institutions and individuals. Until we are prepared to tackle that culture, we are never going to prevent" research fraud.
However, Sir Richard Peto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Oxford, challenged the editors at the press conference, saying their proposals would lead to extra layers of regulation amounting to "harassment" of researchers. "It will do more harm than good to medical research and patients," he said.
The editors say, in a joint editorial that will be published in their journals this weekend, that a year ago the General Medical Council and the Royal Colleges promised definite action but have reneged on promises to improve detection of fraud and introduce tougher penalties. "Unfortunately nothing visible has happened," they say. "Yet the so far largely submerged problem of research misconduct is surfacing like a decomposing corpse. If the leaders do not act they risk losing public confidence in medical research."
The editors founded the Committee on Publication Ethics in 1997 to discuss and expose research fraud. It released guidelines for research last year and has dealt with 110 cases and complaints -- 30 of them this year.