Research misconduct: Britain's failure to act

News p 1487 More than a year ago the good and the great of British medicine assembled in Edinburgh and agreed that the time had come to act decisively on research misconduct.1-3 Unfortunately, nothing visible has happened. Yet the so far largely submerged problem of research misconduct is surfacing like a decomposing corpse.4 If the leaders in medicine do not act they risk losing public confidence in medical research. Fraud in research has a long and dishonourable history, but the problem came firmly onto the agenda in Britain in the early 1980s.5 One consequence was a report from the Royal College of Physicians of London …