report on consequences
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While attention to research integrity has been growing over the past decades, the processes of signalling and denouncing cases of research misconduct remain largely unstudied. In this article, we develop a theoretically and empirically informed understanding of the causes and consequences of reporting research misconduct in terms of power relations. We study the reporting process based on a multinational survey at eight European universities (N = 1126). Using qualitative data that witnesses of research misconduct or of questionable research practices provided, we aim to examine actors’ rationales for reporting and not reporting misconduct, how they report it and the perceived consequences of reporting. In particular we study how research seniority, the temporality of work appointments, and gender could impact the likelihood of cases being reported and of reporting leading to constructive organisational changes. Our findings suggest that these aspects of power relations play a role in the reporting of research misconduct. Our analysis contributes to a better understanding of research misconduct in an academic context. Specifically, we elucidate the processes that affect researchers’ ability and willingness to report research misconduct, and the likelihood of universities taking action. Based on our findings, we outline specific propositions that future research can test as well as provide recommendations for policy improvement.
Introduction
In recent years, the attention paid to research integrity and misconduct has increased. Besides attempting to measure or estimate the extent of misconduct, several scholars also have investigated its causes. This literature shows that important drivers of misconduct range from individual personality traits to systemic factors, which include productivity pressure and corporate influences (Fanelli et al. 2015; Tijdink et al. 2016; Horbach and Halffman 2019). Much less attention has been paid to how scientific misconduct is detected and denounced, for instance, through the peer review system (Guston 2007; LaFollette 1992) or social control mechanisms such as whistleblowing (Stroebe et al. 2012). These processes are crucial for signalling misconduct and articulating what the research community deems un/acceptable behaviour. In addition, the detection and sanctioning of research misconduct depend almost entirely on discovery and reporting by peers, with the potential exception of plagiarism and some forms of statistical manipulation, which may be discovered through automated detection by means of ‘scanners’.
In this paper, we aim to provide a more elaborate theoretical and empirical understanding of the causes and consequences of reporting research misconduct. We do so by approaching the issue from a whistleblowing perspective (Near and Miceli 2016; Santoro and Kumar 2018; Vandekerckhove 2016) and by applying theories of power and power differences. The term ‘whistleblowing’ typically refers to distinct activities of informing authorities or the public that the organization one is working for is doing something immoral or illegal. In our use of the term, we include also ‘softer’ forms of reporting, such as talking to colleagues or one’s supervisor. To avoid confusion, we use the term ‘reporting’ and only use ‘whistleblowing’ in reference to literature explicitly using this term.
A better understanding of research misconduct reporting could contribute to improved early warnings and more effective preventive policies to promote research integrity. Rather than appealing to individuals to take responsibility and relying on sanctions to keep them in line, such policies should pay more attention to social processes, such as power imbalances, group pressure and performance pressure. More specifically, appropriate reporting policies should target a culture of complacency and cynicism that normalises questionable research practices, or even outright misconduct (Clair 2015; Martinson et al. 2010). The literature on organisational integrity in general has focussed on power imbalances, retribution concerns and career consequences (Bowie 2010; Palazzo 2007), which probably also play a role in research integrity.
In this study, we aim to better understand the processes that facilitate or inhibit the reporting of alleged research misconduct by analysing a large sample of direct and indirect witnesses of research misbehaviour. We draw on qualitative responses from a survey conducted in eight European academic research universities in 2017. In this survey, respondents who indicated they had directly or indirectly witnessed an instance of misconduct were asked to respond to open-ended questions about this instance and how they handled it.