Britain's failure to tackle research misconduct: UK bodies are now working together to set up panel on misconduct

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7433.229-c

BMJ 2004;328:229-230 (24 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7433.229-c

Letter

Britain's failure to tackle research misconduct

UK bodies are now working together to set up panel on misconduct

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—We sympathise with Lock's frustration about thedelay in establishing a British panel for preventing and managingbiomedical research misconduct.¹ Having produced this college'sconsensus conference statement,² we worked with sister collegesto develop a blueprint for such a panel.³ The subsequent developmentof the panel was charged by UK colleges and other relevant bodiesto the Academy of Medical Sciences. This item has been monitoredclosely by our audit and research committee, and, like Lock,we are disappointed that the academy has not made more progress.

After the meeting of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)in October, where Lock spoke, it was proposed that the collegesshould work with the General Medical Council, Universities UK,NHS Research and Development, and the Academy of Medical Sciencesto ensure the progression of the panel. The Federation of RoyalColleges of Physicians of the UK has since confirmed its . . . [Full text of this article]

Gordon D O Lowe, assessor

gdl1j@clinmed.gla.ac.uk, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH2 1JG

Gordon D Murray, member

Consensus Panel on Misconduct in Biomedical Research, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH2 1JG

Niall D Finlayson, president

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH2 1JG