Proposals for UK body to investigate research fraud “lack teeth”

Proposals for a national panel to monitor and investigate research misconduct in the United Kingdom were criticised at a recent meeting of journal editors and ethicists as lacking the authority to deal adequately with the problem.

The proposals were presented at a meeting of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)—an organisation designed to offer a forum for editors to manage cases of possible research and publication misconduct—by Professor Peter Lachmann, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

The academy had been asked to take a lead in developing a framework for a national panel to coordinate a national …