Practising research with good research practice
Identifying flawed science is an obsession for Ivan Oransky, executive editor of Reuters Health and professor of Medical Journalism at New York University. As an avid blogger for Retraction Watch — an online publication dedicated to tracking scientific retractions in scholarly journals — Oransky actively engages academics and journalists in the exploration of how research misconduct is identified in published materials.
After following Oransky's blog on the subject, Paula Wood-Adams, interim dean of the School of Graduate Studies, was inspired to start a similar conversation at Concordia.
“As an institution that is seeking to grow our graduate studies program as well as our research presence, we need to continue to foster a culture of excellence when it comes to research integrity,” explains Wood-Adams.
Research integrity is a complex issue that goes beyond blatant plagiarism. Integrity in academia touches on — among other things — the respect for research participants, proper use of public funds and acknowledgement of peer collaborations, as well as responsible communication of collected data and potential conflicts of interest.
“Academics and institutions of higher learning have to stay on top of this,” says Wood-Adams. “With new technologies and rapidly changing media platforms as well as emerging areas of study, a constant dialogue and examination of best practices is vital. If Concordia wants to ensure that we are producing world-class scholars and research findings, we have to adopt the highest standards of research practice.”
As a means of getting the conversation started, the School of Graduate Studies invited Oransky to speak at Concordia in May. His lecture, called “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: What Retractions Tell Us About Scientific Transparency,” examined trends in ethical publishing and ended with a discussion panel on best practices.
The School’s Graduate and Professional Skills (GradProSkills) program then sent seven Concordia graduate students to attend the third World Conference on Research Integrity, held in Montreal from May 5 to 8.
“The idea was to not only give our grad students and postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to learn more about the subject and develop new skills, but to see how they could use the experience to help in the development and delivery of research ethics workshops at Concordia,” says Laurie Lamoureux Scholes, director of the GradProSkills program.
For Natalie Duchesne, who’s perusing a PhD in Humanities at Concordia, attending such a conference was both enlightening and relevant to her goals in academia. She plans to become a professor in an area of study that focuses on marginalized populations where issues such as confidentiality and proper data collection are of the utmost importance.
“I think one of the keys to developing sound research practice is making integrity a priority between graduate students and their supervisors,” explains Duchesne. “Supervisors act as academic mentors and the way in which they approach this issue has a big effect on how grad students will conduct research throughout their academic careers.”
The GradProSkills program will offer professional development workshops on research integrity and best practice during the 2013-14 academic year.
Related links:
• Concordia’s School of Graduate Studies
• GradProSkills
• Retraction Watch
• Third World Conference on Research Integrity