In Retraction Watch Q&A, Health Care Attorneys Examine How Universities Grapple with Data Integrity Concerns

In The News
September 4, 2024

Online platform PubPeer was established to encourage discourse on scientific research. But for institutions that publish research, investigating comments that appear on PubPeer and other internet sources can be burdensome.

In an August Accountability in Research article, health care and educational institutions counsel Minal Caron, associate Carolyn Lye and partner Mark Barnes, and Dr. Barbara Bierer of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, describe the institutional challenges of handling PubPeer comments within the existing regulatory framework for reviewing allegations of research misconduct relating to federally funding research.

In a September Retraction Watch Q&A article, the authors examine the origins of PubPeer and its role in the era of online-based scouring of scientific publications for potential misconduct allegations and outline the challenges that academic institutions need to manage in addressing issues identified on PubPeer. The authors also discuss recommended ways that federal regulations could be changed to make the investigation process more efficient.