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Pressure to achieve success blamed for falsification in iPS research

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Ministry of Science is investing 110 billion yen in regenerative medicine research, using Kyoto University's iPS research as its core base.

These researchers, many who receive very little if anything for any inventions they create, may see an opportunity to make some cash along the way, like their brethren in other industries, when it comes to government funding.

Because the expectations of society for iPS cells are so high, falsification probably happens to meet those expectations. Mr. Yamanaka, who heads the research lab, should also be questioned about how much he tried to tackle (the prevention of misconduct) on an organizational level,"

Leave this guy to the research, and let some other bureaucrat deal with the admin side! This guys talents are wasted as an administrator, and while they had to make him the "head" because of the Nobel Prize, he should be allowed to continue and focus on research.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

So, how many cars of falsified research data and medical procedures have come out of japan in the last year or two? Five or six? Or more? It seems that nearly every industry Japan is involved in fraudulent behavior for profit or fame. And, they wonder why they are losing international markets? If it smells, tastes, feels, and sounds like BS, it usually is.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I wonder what can an organization do to prevent misconduct when the problem is in research in general. If a country ask for top level research done while decreasing the budgets every year obviously the priority is not going to be doing good science but getting flashy results at all cost, else the researcher is out of the job and probably end up wasting all the efforts to get his degree and career up to that point. Many times the people that end up keeping an eye for misconduct are doing it on a volunteer basis on top of their responsibilities.

Give stability to researchers, stop with the short contracts for single projects, don't focus so much on super-stars and instead support cooperation between institutions, reward research done professionally even if it ends up giving negative results. Then people will not have such a huge pressure to deceive in order to keep their jobs and researchers will have enough time on their hands to help with the replication of the work being done by their peers making misconduct something much easier to control.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It's a culture of "Publish or Perish" It's not only in the scientific community, but in academia as well.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

These researchers, many who receive very little if anything for any inventions they create, may see an opportunity to make some cash along the way

Nobody made any cash here, you could accuse Yamamizu of "stealing" his salary or wasting grant money, but nobody got any money out of this. A researcher that wants to get money from his efforts simply leave academia and works for a company (or makes one if he has the resourcers), falsifying results don't result in him pocketing any money.

It's a culture of "Publish or Perish" It's not only in the scientific community, but in academia as well.

In what parts of academia not included in the scientific community?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/world-view/publish-or-perish-academics-european-universities

American universities as well

0 ( +2 / -2 )

What has happened to Japan’s Samurai Spirit 武士道, where did it go?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

So, how many cars of falsified research data and medical procedures have come out of japan in the last year or two? Five or six?

that's almost nothing compared to most other countries.

 And, they wonder why they are losing international markets?

what data do you have to support this spurious claim? i doubt you have any.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

how do you fake science? you can easily fake politics or business, but science?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

American universities as well

Your link is still about the scientific community.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Your link is still about the scientific community.

The article refers to a scientific corporation. Whereas universities should be free of the profit motive, therefore they don't face the same pressures. Yet this problem still exists. That's the difference I was referring to.

Apologies for the ambiguity.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Whereas universities should be free of the profit motive, therefore they don't face the same pressures.

My point is that the CiRA is ALSO part of academia, part of the research institutions inside of the Kyoto university. It is not an institution focused in profits (at least in the same degree as every other university that hold patents). Their main productivity is on papers.

Speaking in general the scientific community is the same as academia, and precisely those that are not moved by profits the ones that are more susceptible to be victims of the publish or perish culture, because if you are working for profits not publishing is perfectly fine as long as you can demonstrate economic value.

If you hold a patent for a new research tool and you are interested only on profits its perfectly fine to let everybody else publish results with that tool because you get proof of its usefulness (that you can include as references) without expending anything. But if you are NOT interested in the profits your only way to show your work is to publish as much as possible, then you can use it in your curriculum to get a better position, grants or the next job.

So "academia" is the segment of the scientific community where this problem is more important.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

murabito,

Corporations are not academia. Nor should academia be a corporation.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Corporations are not academia. Nor should academia be a corporation.

The Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University is NOT a corporation its funded by the Kyoto University, its a perfect example of academia, and precisely because of that its researchers subjected to the publish or perish culture.

Let me be more clear.

The problem in the article happened in an academic institution.

In this case academia is also equivalent to scientific community.

This kinds of problems are much more rare in corporations aiming for profits.

The examples you put here are the same that happened in the article.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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