One in twelve medical scientists in Flanders admits to making up or ‘massaging’ data in order for it to match a hypothesis. And almost six in twelve see such fraudulent practices happening around them. They identify high publication pressure as one of the causes.
In November and December 2012 Belgian science journalist Reinout Verbeke (editor of Eos Magazine) spread an anonymous survey on fraud and pressure to publish among scientists of the Medical Science faculties of all Flemish universities. The result was 315 completely filled in questionnaires. It is the first quantitative survey on science fraud in Flanders.
The article was first published in Dutch in Eos Magazine n° 4 of April 2013 and produced with support of the Pascal Decroos Fund.
MAGAZINE
Wetenschapsfraude: de harde cijfers (EOS, Vol 30 - n° 4 - April 2013)
