Investigating scientific misconduct

Publishing false data, and other scientific publishing misdemeanours, have always been of interest to me. If the published record is false, there are implications for scientific publishing and for literature searching.

The BMJ for 30th July has several interesting pieces about the case of Dr. Ram B. Singh, who published in the BMJ in 1992, and who has submitted and published papers in several places since. There is a growing feeling at the BMJ that there is something not quite right with the data in the 1992 paper, and a paper in this issue catalogues steps taken to investigate, leading to an "expression of concern" being published in the same issue.

Read the editorial by Jane Smith and Fiona Godlee (this links to the expression of concern and the investigation of Dr. Singh's work).