Correcting the Literature After Scienctific Misconduct

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的目的是调查受科学不端行为影响的已发表生物医学文献的更正性质和范围，并在研究结果保证的情况下向适当的实体提出建议。本回顾性队列研究将包括以下步骤。1)确定1992 - 2001年间所有研究诚信办公室（Office of Research Integrity， ORI）对科学不端行为的判定，并选择那些被ORI认定的出版物中包含抄袭、数据虚假陈述或其他信息需要更正、勘误、撤回或类似行为的个体（问题出版物）纳入研究队列。2)在基于medline的书目和引文数据库中进行搜索，以确定此类问题出版物的书目引文标注的勘误表、更正和撤回（更正）的程度，并描述此类发布的位置和内容的范围。3)描述电子数据库的出版商和供应商如何在其在线引用中识别勘误表、撤回和其他形式的通知。4)描述后续作者引用问题出版物的程度。确定那些引用问题出版物的人是否也引用了ORI对不当行为的发现，或者更正（对于那些标有此类更正的问题出版物）。5)随机抽取问题文章的引用，进行内容分析，确定问题出版物的引用性质。初步研究已经证明了在科学不端行为发生后纠正文献问题的性质和程度。初步工作也证明了拟议方法的可行性。根据研究结果，我们将为适当的实体制定政策建议，以提高已发表生物医学文献的完整性。我们还将通过制定一个与维护专业图书馆协会和协会出版文献完整性相关的意识计划，以及通过同行评议的出版物，传播研究结果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and scope of the corrections made to the published biomedical literature affected by scientific misconduct and to make recommendations to the appropriate entities when warranted by the results of the study. This retrospective cohort study will involve the following steps. 1) Identify all Office of Research Integrity (ORI) determinations of scientific misconduct from 1992 - 2001, and select for inclusion in the study cohort those individuals with ORI-identified publications containing plagiarism, misrepresentation of data or other information requiring correction, errata, retraction, or similar actions (problem publications). 2) Conduct searches in MEDLINE-based bibliographic and citation databases to determine the extent to which errata, corrections and retractions (corrigenda) are tagged to the bibliographic citations of such problem publications, and characterize the range of the location and content of such postings. 3) Describe how the publishers and vendors of electronic databases identify errata, retractions and other forms of notification within their online citations. 4) Describe the extent to which subsequent authors cite the problem publications. Determine if those who cite the problem publications also cite the ORI finding of misconduct, or the corrigenda (for those problem publications that are tagged with such corrigenda). 5) Randomly sample the citations to the problem articles and conduct a content analysis to determine the nature of the reference to the problem publication. Preliminary studies have demonstrated the nature and extent of the problem of correcting the literature after scientific misconduct. Preliminary work has also demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed methodology. Based on the study findings, we will formulate policy recommendations to appropriate entities for improving the integrity of the published biomedical literature. We will also disseminate the study findings by developing an awareness program related to maintaining the integrity of the published literature for professional library associations and societies, and through peer-reviewed publications.