Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Factors Associated with Scientific Misconduct and Questionable Research Practices in Health Professions Education

View ORCID ProfileLauren A. Maggio, View ORCID ProfileTing Dong, View ORCID ProfileErik W. Driessen, View ORCID ProfileAnthony R. Artino Jr
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/332254
Lauren A. Maggio
1Department of Medicine, F. Edward Hêbert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; Twitter: @laurenmaggio
Roles: associate professor of medicine
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Lauren A. Maggio
Ting Dong
2Department of Medicine, F. Edward Hêbert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland
Roles: associate professor of medicine
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Ting Dong
Erik W. Driessen
3Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Science, Maastricht University, the Netherlands; Twitter: @erikwdriessen
Roles: professor of medical education
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Erik W. Driessen
Anthony R. Artino Jr
4Department of Medicine, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; Twitter: @mededdoc
Roles: professor of medicine
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Anthony R. Artino Jr
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Introduction Engaging in scientific misconduct and questionable research practices (QRPs) is a noted problem across fields, including health professions education (HPE). To mitigate these practices, other disciplines have enacted strategies based on researcher characteristics and practice factors. Thus, to inform HPE, this article seeks to determine which researcher characteristics and practice factors, if any, might explain the frequency of irresponsible research practices.

Method In 2017, a cross-sectional survey of HPE researchers was conducted. The survey included 66 items derived from two published QRP surveys and a publication pressure scale adapted from the literature. The study outcome was the self-reported misconduct frequency score, which is a weighted mean score for each respondent on all misconduct and QRP items. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results and Discussion In total, 590 researchers took the survey. Results from the regression analysis indicated that researcher age had a negative association with the misconduct frequency score (b = −.01, t = −2.91, p<.05) suggesting that older researchers tended to have lower misconduct frequency scores. Publication pressure (b = .20, t = 7.82, p<.001) and number of publications (b = .001, t = 3.27, p<.01) had positive associations with the misconduct frequency score. The greater the publication pressure or the more publications a researcher reported, the higher the misconduct frequency score. Overall, the explanatory variables accounted for 21% of the variance in the misconduct frequency score, and publication pressure was the strongest predictor. These findings provide an evidence base from which HPE might tailor strategies to address scientific misconduct and QRPs.

Footnotes

  • Written work prepared by employees of the Federal Government as part of their official duties is, under the U.S. Copyright Act, a “work of the United States Government” for which copyright protection under Title 17 of the United States Code is not available. As such, copyright does not extend to the contributions of employees of the Federal Government.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. This article is a US Government work. It is not subject to copyright under 17 USC 105 and is also made available for use under a CC0 license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted June 02, 2018.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Factors Associated with Scientific Misconduct and Questionable Research Practices in Health Professions Education
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Factors Associated with Scientific Misconduct and Questionable Research Practices in Health Professions Education
Lauren A. Maggio, Ting Dong, Erik W. Driessen, Anthony R. Artino Jr
bioRxiv 332254; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/332254
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Factors Associated with Scientific Misconduct and Questionable Research Practices in Health Professions Education
Lauren A. Maggio, Ting Dong, Erik W. Driessen, Anthony R. Artino Jr
bioRxiv 332254; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/332254

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Scientific Communication and Education
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (2505)
  • Biochemistry (4951)
  • Bioengineering (3452)
  • Bioinformatics (15127)
  • Biophysics (6854)
  • Cancer Biology (5357)
  • Cell Biology (7681)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (4502)
  • Ecology (7110)
  • Epidemiology (2059)
  • Evolutionary Biology (10178)
  • Genetics (7491)
  • Genomics (9750)
  • Immunology (4801)
  • Microbiology (13131)
  • Molecular Biology (5109)
  • Neuroscience (29289)
  • Paleontology (203)
  • Pathology (832)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (1454)
  • Physiology (2116)
  • Plant Biology (4714)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1002)
  • Synthetic Biology (1332)
  • Systems Biology (3993)
  • Zoology (766)