Dr Vaux's Talk Raises Concerns
At January 18th’s Skeptics Cafe, Dr David Vaux, (Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) drew attention to a number of examples of lack of integrity by the authors of mainstream scientific research papers, including the manufacturing of data. These articles had been published in peak academic journals and had escaped their editorial processes. He attributed this largely to a lack of an Office of Research Integrity of the kind that exists in other countries. Dr Vaux’s talk caused concern among some of his listeners for the status of Australian research. Statements in 2004 (see Nature Article Feb 2004 )by the then opposition Senator Kim Carr, were supportive of such an oversight body. Senator Carr is now Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research but his government seems to have no immediate plans to proceed. If you wish to send a letter to your local MP in support of the enhancement of standards of research integrity in Australia, please click letter to MP to view and download an example. Contact details for Federal MPs can be found here: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/memlist.pdf
Ken