There is a particular group of scientists from different disciplines who commit themselves passionately to discover scientific “flaws and fraud”. These ‘scientific sleuths’ uncover all kinds of research integrity issues, ranging from tweaked and duplicated images to paper mills, predatory conferences, and manipulation of the peer review process. The sleuths are admired and respected by many in the community, but feared, and sometimes disputed by others.
In this RIR#24-webinar, several of these sleuths are our guests. They tell us about their work, their discoveries, which ideals drive them to continuously scrutinize the scientific domain for problems. Dorothy Bishop (em. Oxford University), Anna Abalkina (Free University of Berlin) and René Aquarius (Radboudumc) will pitch about their work and the public will be able to interact with them through polls and questions.
Apart from researchers themselves, diverse other stakeholders in the scientific domain are responsible for research integrity, such as journal editors, publishers and research institutions. Often, sleuths collaborate with editors and publishers although this isn’t always easy. Adya Misra, our fourth guest, is head of the Research Integrity department of publisher Sage. With her, we will discuss the role of publishers in preventing and detecting flaws and fraud.
Guillén Fernández, scientific director of Radboudumc, will join us in the final panel discussion of this Round. The trustworthiness and credibility of science is at stake when sleuths discover fraud. With all guests together, we will discuss questions like: how big are these problems? How to communicate about integrity issues responsibly and without damaging science as a whole. We will also discuss solutions: what can researchers, publishers, institutes, and funders do to create a positive climate that stimulates researchers to work in the best way possible.
As usual, members of the public are invited to engage themselves in this live session, and to take a personal stance towards the topic as well.
*The Rise of Scientific Sleuths: Ensuring Research Integrity – ScienceWatchdog.id
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We invite all master students, junior and senior researchers and other staff members to attend this event and join the discussion.
Please note that PhD candidates can add the Research Integrity Rounds to their Training and Supervision Plan. -
Time: Wednesday 11 March 2026
16:00 - 17:30 hrs
Webinar -
Registration is required. Please register via www.radboudumc.nl/researchintegrityrounds. The webinar link will be sent to you one week before the event.
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Radboudumc organizes 3 Research Integrity Rounds each year for both master students and research staff (PhD candidates and senior researchers) to aim awareness of academic integrity. The Research Integrity Rounds focus on both students and researchers particular for the interaction between these future and already experienced scientists.