This review is prompted by new Swedish legislation on research misconduct to be in effect as of January 1st, 2020. Approximately 4 out of 10 000 published articles are retracted because of misconduct. Many Asian countries top the list of proportion of articles retracted. In Sweden, more than half of all mass media reports on misconduct concern medical research. The most discussed drivers of misconduct include the incentives by universities and funders with emphasis on competiveness, journal editors' preference for novelty over veracity, and the ethical culture as to research area, country and local institution. For most of fraudsters, detection means an end of their academic career. Victims include co-workers, institutions, patients and science at large. The newly revised European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity may serve as guidance for academic and healthcare organisations that strive to prevent research misconduct.
Från kommande årsskifte gäller en ny lag om oredlighet i forskning. Fyra av 10 000 publicerade artiklar återkallas på grund av oredlighet. Asiatiska länder toppar listan över återkallade artiklar. I Sverige har oredlighet uppmärksammats mer inom medicinsk forskning än inom andra vetenskapsområden. Bland drivkrafterna bakom oredlighet i forskning har universitetens och finansiärernas tyngdpunkt på många publikationer i högprestigetidskrifter särskilt uppmärksammats. De flesta som ertappas får i praktiken yrkesförbud som forskare. Bland oredlighetens offer finns medarbetare, institutioner, patienter och vetenskapen i stort. Sammanslutningen All European Academies nyligen reviderade kodex för god forskningssed kan tjäna som vägledning.