Reporting of scientific misconduct in health care research

The incidence of scientific dishonesty in the Netherlands is not known, yet experiences at both the NWO (the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) and Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde (Dutch Journal of Medicine) indicate that there must be several cases per year. For scientific fraud to be prevented students and researchers should receive thorough teaching, and in research laboratories an emphasis should be placed upon integrity. The Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam has published a research protocol which is perfect for internal use. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences publishes brochures on good research practice for researchers, teachers and students. The NWO and the Vereniging van Universiteiten (Dutch Association of Universities) have set up a committee for scientific integrity to function as a fallback mechanism and to assess the institutional procedures or to repeat the inquiries. As healthcare research institutions other than universities are involved since authorities are not always objective, an independent committee has been established to assess complaints about scientific dishonesty, the Scientific Integrity Health Research. Like the Committee on Publication Ethics it will publish its cases anonymously on an annual basis. Its judgments will be communicated to the people involved and the proper authorities.