Pressure to falsify results embedded in culture, survey finds

The majority of UK researchers taking part in a survey of research culture have admitted that they have seen colleagues feel pressured to falsify results, according to a report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

Fifty-eight per cent of respondents to an online survey to gauge the pressures on researchers to alter their data said they were aware of scientists who felt tempted or under pressure to compromise on research, and 26 per cent said they themselves had felt tempted.

Nearly all, 94 per cent, of the responses to The Culture of Scientific Research survey, published by the council on 3 December, were from people based at a university or research institution. The survey was conducted between March and July 2014 and gathered 970 responses.