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This study examined mechanisms that influence romance fraud perpetrators' public display of affluence, an aspect of romance fraud research that has received little attention in the literature. The study collected data through semi‐structured interviews with eight offenders from two Ghanaian cybercrime hotbeds and three law enforcement officials, using a qualitative research approach based on the critical realist paradigm. Data analysis was performed using thematic analysis, which revealed that the social environment, peer influence, links with high‐net‐worth individuals (upper structure clientelism), the involvement of social media and collaboration with some corrupt state officials all had a substantial influence on cybercriminals' public display of wealth. Furthermore, upper structure clientelism shows systemic flaws in financial institutions that must be addressed in order to reduce online romance fraud. The significance of social media in fostering public displays of wealth emphasises the importance of education and awareness initiatives as preventative measures. To effectively prevent online romance fraud, law enforcement should prioritise interagency cooperation and transparency among governmental institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the historical use of modified-release (MR) opioids for acute pain management, particularly in Australia, despite the lack of evidence showing their superiority over immediate-release (IR) opioids. Recent guidelines in Australia recommend against initiating MR opioids for acute pain in opioid-naïve patients to reduce risks of in-hospital morbidity, mortality, and persistent post-discharge opioid use. The article emphasizes the importance of individualized titration of IR opioids for acute pain management to ensure safety and efficacy, highlighting the risks associated with MR opioids, such as less effective pain relief and increased adverse events. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: The output of scholarly publications in scientific literature has increased exponentially in recent years. This increase in literature has been accompanied by an increase in retractions. Although some of these may be attributed to publishing errors, many are the result of unsavory research practices. The purposes of this study were to identify the number of retracted articles in nursing and reasons for the retractions, analyze the retraction notices, and determine the length of time for an article in nursing to be retracted. Design: This was an exploratory study. Methods: A search of PubMed/MEDLINE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Retraction Watch databases was conducted to identify retracted articles in nursing and their retraction notices. Results: Between 1997 and 2022, 123 articles published in the nursing literature were retracted. Ten different reasons for retraction were used to categorize these articles with one‐third of the retractions (n = 37, 30.1%) not specifying a reason. Sixty‐eight percent (n = 77) were retracted because of an actual or a potential ethical concern: duplicate publication, data issues, plagiarism, authorship issues, and copyright. Conclusion: Nurses rely on nursing‐specific scholarly literature as evidence for clinical decisions. The findings demonstrated that retractions are increasing within published nursing literature. In addition, it was evident that retraction notices do not prevent previously published work from being cited. This study addressed a gap in knowledge about article retractions specific to nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Points: What is theoretical about ecological risk assessment? — Glenn SuterAn egregious example of scientific fraud — Glenn SuterMechanistic modeling of toxicity test data — Lawrence BarnthouseThe folly of outsmarting climate change — Richard J. WenningRegulating plastics pollution — Richard J. Wenning [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As the prevalence of autism appears to increase, more research to guide effective diagnosis and intervention practices is needed. Findings disseminated through peer‐reviewed publications are critical, but the number of retractions continues to rise. An understanding of retracted publications is imperative to ensure the body of evidence is corrected and current. Objectives: The objectives of this analysis were to summarize key characteristics of retracted publications in autism research, examine the length of time between publication and retraction, and assess the extent journals are adhering to publishing ethical guidelines for reporting retracted articles. Methods: We searched five databases through 2021 (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Retraction Watch). Results: A total of 25 retracted articles were included in the analysis. Ethical misconduct accounted for the majority of retractions rather than scientific error. The shortest time to retraction was 2 months and the longest length was 144 months. Discussion: The time lag between publication and retraction since 2018 has improved considerably. Nineteen of the articles had retraction notices (76%), whereas six articles did not have a notice (24%). Conclusion: These findings summarize errors of previous retractions and illuminate opportunities for researchers, journal publishers and librarians to learn from retracted publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web‐based studies of human dimensions are increasing across environmental and socio‐ecological disciplines. However, the prevalence of fraud threatens research quality. Increased fraud rates should be expected as surveys move progressively more online, motivated by expanding reach, cost savings and/or in response to COVID‐19. Web‐based research must better account for fraud to maintain confidence in findings. Practical diagnostic tools and data quality protocols are required to detect fraud and ensure results quality.Drawing on our experience using an online participatory mapping case study, we discuss methods to detect potentially fraudulent responses—and identify some limitations. We begin by reviewing the current state of knowledge on fraudulent responses or 'fraudsters' and its relative absence in environmental and socio‐ecological disciplines. We then describe our research approach, the indicators and variables we used to detect and assess fraud and our decision‐making process to eliminate suspicious responses without jeopardizing research integrity.We found that despite several preventative measures, many fraudulent respondents could provide survey responses and effectively mimicked legitimate respondents at first glance. By assuming each response to be 'potentially fraudulent', we determined that the complete screening of each respondent, while time‐consuming, can limit the prevalence of fraud. We also determined that the most common data consistency checks (e.g. duration, trap questions and straight‐liner checks) are unlikely to guarantee valid respondents.If not acknowledged and addressed, fraud has the potential to undermine data integrity, discredit research findings and limit the utility of results for policy. This study contributes to environmental and socio‐ecological research by reviewing existing fraudster literature and using our experience with fraud to provide recommendations for researchers to address this problem. We encourage researchers implementing online qualitative research methods to thoroughly assess and report fraud, when possible, to ensure widespread knowledge of this growing threat. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its public visibility and impact on policy, the activity of expert communication rarely receives more than a passing mention in codes of scientific integrity. This paper makes the case for an ethics of expert communication, introducing a framework where expert communication is represented as an intrinsically ethical activity of a deliberative agent. Ethical expert communication cannot be ensured by complying with various requirements, such as restricting communications to one's area of expertise or disclosing conflicts of interest. Expert communication involves morally laden trade‐offs that must be weighed by a deliberative agent. A basic normative framework is introduced, and concrete provisions are proposed for codes of scientific integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Plant Science Retreat (EPSR) is an annual event that brings together early career plant scientists to develop their scientific network. This year, the EPSR took place at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, with close to 70 PhD candidates from nine different countries participating. The event included poster presentations, talks, workshops, and excursions, covering a wide range of research areas in plant science. Topics discussed included plant development, responses to abiotic stresses, evolutionary biology, genetics, biophysics, and biotechnology. The retreat also addressed important issues such as scientific integrity and the well-being of graduate students. The organizers of the EPSR expressed their satisfaction with the event and look forward to the next edition in Paris in 2024. [Extracted from the article]

This document is an interview with Professor Johannes Ring, a renowned figure in the field of dermatology and venereology. The interview provides insights into Professor Ring's background, career, and influential mentors, as well as his passion for writing and editing. Professor Ring shares his experiences as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology (JEADV), discussing the challenges faced in managing a high volume of manuscripts and improving the journal's impact factor. The interview also touches on issues of scientific misconduct and predatory journals. Overall, the interview offers valuable perspectives on the field of dermatology and the importance of creating a journal that is both informative and engaging. [Extracted from the article]

4 TABLE BCPT requires the authors use reporting guidelines for clinical studies (studies with human participants). The editorial team has therefore decided to revise the BCPT guidelines for authors in order to ensure that research transparency and standards are uniformly communicated for both experimental/non-clinical and for clinical studies. In addition to the BCPT policy, the authors are also encouraged to read the BCPT Author Guidelines. BCPT GUIDELINES FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL STUDIES This replaces the previous versions of BCPT guidelines.[[12]] REFERENCES 1 Baker M. Reproducibility crisis: blame it on the antibodies. [Extracted from the article]

The article "Unmasking the fraud: How paper mills are undermining scientific publishing" highlights the threat posed by paper mills, which produce fraudulent research papers for a fee, to the integrity of scientific literature and public health. These entities exploit the pressure on academics to publish, leading to a proliferation of fake scientific manuscripts that can mislead medical professionals and policymakers. The impact of paper mill fraud extends to devaluing legitimate research efforts and endangering lives, necessitating a global, multifaceted approach to combat this pervasive issue. [Extracted from the article]

It is entirely possible that the patients who received dexmedetomidine in the study by Kang et al. did not ask for rescue opioid until postoperative day 3 because they received twice as much overall opioid in 24 h as the patients in the study by Albrecht et al. did in 48 h (median 20 mg vs. 10 mg). Keywords: analgesia; dexmedetomidine; interscalene block; reliability; reproducibility EN analgesia dexmedetomidine interscalene block reliability reproducibility 1067 1070 4 08/07/23 20230901 NES 230901 I am a mediocre cook, but my baking is pretty good (at least according to my children). Kang et al. [[6]] studied patients having interscalene brachial plexus block for shoulder surgery in combination with intravenous dexamethasone and found that adding intravenous dexmedetomidine extended median time to rescue analgesia from 17 h to nearly 3 days. These investigators found that not only did the addition of intravenous dexmedetomidine fail to prolong analgesia, but patients also had a reduction in time to rescue analgesia. [Extracted from the article]

The Brazilian Federal Senate created a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) to investigate the Bolsonaro government's irregularities in the management of the COVID‐19 pandemic. One of the cases that drew attention was the research conducted by Prevent Senior, a private health insurance company, on the early treatment of COVID‐19. The article analyzes the scientific validity of the research and the ethical problems related to its implementation. It is based on analysis of Prevent Senior's report of the clinical study, the Brazilian and USA clinical trial registries, the Senate's CPI report, and on the information reported by the media. This case of scientific fraud and political‐ideological bias exemplifies how Prevent Senior, using a questionable protocol to enhance its reputation and gain government support, was instrumental in building the "early treatment" narrative for COVID‐19, and shows how it served as a basis for a government public policy that promoted the use of ineffective drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Test takers wishing to gain an unfair advantage often share answers with other test takers, either sharing all answers (a full key) or some (a partial key). Detecting key sharing during a tight testing window requires an efficient, easily interpretable, and rich form of analysis that is descriptive and inferential. We introduce a detection method based on multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) that identifies test takers with unusual response similarities. The method simultaneously detects multiple shared keys (partial or full), plots results, and is computationally efficient as it requires only matrix operations. We describe the method, evaluate its detection accuracy under various simulation conditions, and demonstrate the procedure on a real data set with known test‐taking misbehavior. The simulation results showed that the MCA method had reasonably high power under realistic conditions and maintained the nominal false‐positive level, except when the group size was very large or partial shared keys had more than 50% of the items. The real data analysis illustrated visual detection procedures and inference about the item responses possibly shared in the key, which was likely shared among 91 test takers, many of whom were confirmed by nonstatistical investigation to have engaged in test‐taking misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence synthesis findings depend on the assumption that the included studies follow good clinical practice and results are not fabricated or false. Studies which are problematic due to scientific misconduct, poor research practice, or honest error may distort evidence synthesis findings. Authors of evidence synthesis need transparent mechanisms to identify and manage problematic studies to avoid misleading findings. As evidence synthesis authors of the Cochrane COVID‐19 review on ivermectin, we identified many problematic studies in terms of research integrity and regulatory compliance. Through iterative discussion, we developed a research integrity assessment (RIA) tool for randomized controlled trials for the update of this Cochrane review. In this paper, we explain the rationale and application of the RIA tool in this case study. RIA assesses six study criteria: study retraction, prospective trial registration, adequate ethics approval, author group, plausibility of methods (e.g., randomization), and plausibility of study results. RIA was used in the Cochrane review as part of the eligibility check during screening of potentially eligible studies. Problematic studies were excluded and studies with open questions were held in awaiting classification until clarified. RIA decisions were made independently by two authors and reported transparently. Using the RIA tool resulted in the exclusion of >40% of studies in the first update of the review. RIA is a complementary tool prior to assessing "Risk of Bias" aiming to establish the integrity and authenticity of studies. RIA provides a platform for urgent development of a standard approach to identifying and managing problematic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Digital transactions based on credit cards are gradually increasing concept due to expediency. The amount of fraudulent transactions has intensely enlarged in modern days, because of the fast development of e‐services, namely e‐finance, mobile payments, and e‐commerce as well as the promotion of credit cards. Criminal fraud behaviors and user's payment behaviors are frequently varying, thus performance improvement of the fraud identification method and its stability are more challenging processes. The Shuffled Shepherd Political Optimization‐based Deep Residual network (SSPO‐based DRN) scheme is established for credit card fraud identification in this research. The SSPO is developed by merging the Political Optimization (PO) and Shuffled Shepherd Optimization Algorithm (SSOA). The quantile normalization model is an effective preprocessing technique, which normalizes the data for effective detection. Moreover, fisher score and class information gain effectively select the required features. Data augmentation is employed for increasing the data size, thereby the detection performance is improved. The Deep Residual Network (DRN) is employed for credit card fraud recognition, which is trained by devised SSPO algorithm. The SSPO‐based DRN approach achieved enhanced performance with testing sensitivity of 0.9279, specificity of 0.9023, and accuracy of 0.9120. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here he continued his work on EBV in Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines. 11 Schneider-Gädicke A, Schwarz E. Different human cervical carcinoma cell lines show similar transcription patterns of human papillomavirus type 18 early genes. Under zur Hausen's guidance, too, IJC initiated quality control measures for tumor cell lines in scientific publications in order to combat the increasing problem of cross-contaminated or misidentified cell lines that were producing wrong and misleading findings in cancer research, and in those of other disciplines as well. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Ethos (00912131) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A top priority of prison authorities is maintaining a safe and orderly institutional environment. Gangs are believed to impede this objective, warranting bespoke policies and practices. Drawing on the process‐based model of regulation, we depart from orthodox explanations for the gang–misconduct link and argue that gang affiliates are treated less fairly than nongang affiliates owing to suppression‐oriented administrative policies and harsher day‐to‐day interactions with officers, which, in turn, impact compliance. We use administrative and survey data sources based on a sample of 802 male prisoners and generalized structural equation modeling to examine whether procedural justice and legal orientations mediate the association between official classification of gang affiliation and self‐reported misconduct. Our findings reveal partial support for the process‐based model: procedural justice and legitimacy are poorer among gang than among nongang respondents but do not mediate the gang–misconduct link. The traditional pathway between procedural justice, legitimacy, and obligation to obey was observed, none of which were related to misconduct, standing in sharp contrast to the expectations of the process‐based model. These findings suggest that factors other than procedural justice and legal orientations may be more relevant for rule violations among gangs, specifically, and within correctional environments, generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1980s were an outrageous time in Australia's business history. This paper re‐examines this era of misconduct, assessing the role of interlocking directorates for corporate governance of diversified business groups. Professional interlocked executives—those with professional training, executive status and mobility between member firms—enabled the takeover culture of the time, and allowed managers to ignore promised strategic benefits and redirect associated firms towards speculative share ownership. These results demonstrate the importance of board independence for corporate governance, and the way that expertise has been weaponised within managerial capitalism to encourage trust in risky and exploitative corporate structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article gives insights on how to write, submit, revise, and publish articles in scientific peer‐reviewed journals. I will focus on chemical engineering, but my suggestions apply to other natural sciences and engineering journals as well. I will start by discussing how to write the cover letter and the text of your article, emphasizing the importance of using clear language and highlighting the novelty of your results. I will then suggest how to prepare eye‐catching figures and tables that communicate your ideas effectively. Next, I will discuss the peer‐review process, explaining the roles of editors and reviewers, as well as how to revise your article and craft a rebuttal letter. I will also explain ethical misconduct in scientific publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late eighteenth century, the language of sentiment was deployed to justify a wealth of individual behaviours, laudable or otherwise. From illicit desire in Jean‐Jacques Rousseau's Julie to murder in Herbert Croft's Love and Madness, sensibility was, among other things, a tool of exoneration. Using Edmund Burke's appropriation of sentimentalism in the Powell–Bembridge scandal of 1783, this article examines what happens when this well‐worn mechanism fails, when sensibility reaches its limits. Burke's inability to explain away the crimes of these two men with his usual tactics exposes sensibility's ultimate resistance to certain nefarious narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of guidelines has long been a popular means of conveying normative requirements in scientific and medical research. The recent case of He Jiankui, whose research flouted both widely accepted ethical standards and a set of field‐specific guidelines he co‐authored, raises the question of whether guidelines are an effective means of preventing misconduct. This article advances the theory that guidelines can facilitate moral rationalization, a form of motivated reasoning. Moral rationalization in research occurs when individuals justify their actions with plausible reasons that cohere with their moral standards. This allows them to act as they want while believing in their own goodness. If guidelines facilitate moral rationalization, this has implications for research ethics training and for the work of applied ethicists. Research ethics training ought to incorporate reflection on conative features of reasoning, including incentives to commit misconduct, and applied ethicists ought to be circumspect about their use of ethics guidelines. Otherwise, they are feeding the fire of rationalization with the cognitive material practitioners need to accomplish their desired ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Financial statement fraud is a global problem for investors, audit firms, regulators, and other stakeholders. Fraud detection can be regarded as a binary classification problem with a false negative being more expensive than a false positive. Although existing studies have made great efforts to detect fraud using various data‐mining techniques, the difference in misclassification costs is seldom considered. In this study, we propose a cost‐sensitive cascade forest (CSCF) for fraud detection, which places heavy penalty on false negative prediction and self‐adjusts the depth of a cascade forest according to the classifier's recall (i.e. the classifier's sensitivity). As missing values are ubiquitous in fraud research, we also explore the effect of selected missing data treatments on prediction performance, including complete case analysis, three selected classic statistical mechanisms (zero, mean, and modified mean imputation), and two machine learning (K‐nearest neighbor [KNN] and random forest [RF]) approaches. The experimental results show that the proposed CSCF significantly improves the fraud prediction in comparison with one of the latest fraud detection models using the RUSBoost algorithm. Comparing different missing value treatments, even though RUSBoost and CSCF perform well when using complete case analysis, we find that the best performance is achieved when CSCF is used with missing data imputed as zero. Such treatment further improves the performance, and results in an area under curve (AUC) score of 0.82 compared to the highest AUC (0.71) from the baseline model. Supplementary analysis further reveals that the low AUC of complete case analysis for the two examined models persists under different training sizes. Thus, our findings shed light on the potential benefits of missing value imputation for the model's performance for fraud detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nachrichten aus der Chemie is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Nachrichten aus der Chemie is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study explores the use of PubPeer by the scholarly community, to understand the issues discussed in an online journal club, the disciplines most commented on, and the characteristics of the most prolific users. A sample of 39,985 posts about 24,779 publications were extracted from PubPeer in 2019 and 2020. These comments were divided into seven categories according to their degree of seriousness (Positive review, Critical review, Lack of information, Honest errors, Methodological flaws, Publishing fraud, and Manipulation). The results show that more than two‐thirds of comments are posted to report some type of misconduct, mainly about image manipulation. These comments generate most discussion and take longer to be posted. By discipline, Health Sciences and Life Sciences are the most discussed research areas. The results also reveal "super commenters," users who access the platform to systematically review publications. The study ends by discussing how various disciplines use the site for different purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Analysis of distribution of p‐values of continuous differences between test and controls after randomization provides evidence of unintentional error, non‐random sampling, or data fabrication in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We assessed evidence of highly unusual distributions of baseline characteristics of subjects enrolled in clinical trials in implant dentistry. Materials and methods: RCTs published between 2005 and 2020 were systematically searched in Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane databases. Baseline patient data were extracted from full text articles by two independent assessors. The hypothesis of non‐random sampling was tested by comparing the expected and the observed distribution of the p‐values of differences between test and controls after randomization. Results: One‐thousand five‐hundred and thirty‐eight unique RCTs were identified, of which 409 (26.6%) did not report baseline characteristics of the population, and 671 (43.6%) reported data in forms other than mean and standard deviation and could not be used to assess their random sampling. Four‐hundred and fifty‐eight trials with 1449 baseline variables in the form of mean and standard deviation were assessed. The study observed an over‐representation of very small p‐values [<.001, 1.38%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.85–2.12 compared to the expected 0.10%, 95% CI 0.00–0.26]. No evidence of over‐representation of larger p‐values was observed. Unusual distributions were present in 2.38% of RCTs and more frequent in non‐registered trials, in studies supported by non‐industry funding, and in multi‐centre RCTs. Conclusions: The inability to assess random sampling due to insufficient reporting in 26.6% of trials requires attention. In trials reporting suitable baseline data, unusual distributions were uncommon, and no evidence of data fabrication was detected, but there was evidence of non‐random sampling. Continued efforts are necessary to ensure high integrity and trust in the evidence base of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated scientific discovery is a discipline which lies at the boarder of artificial intelligence, natural sciences and philosophy of science, and deals with the application of artificial intelligence methods to scientific discovery. Its origins go back to the end of 1960s when a few AI researchers in the USA turned their attention to a domain often considered the realm of genius–scientific discovery. There have been at least three major research programs in the field, each of them having different objectives, concerns, and methodology: machine learning systems in the Turing tradition, normative theory of scientific discovery formulated by Herbert Simon's group, and the programs called HHNT, proposed by J. Holland, K. Holyoak, R. Nisbett, and P. Thagard. In this paper I briefly analyze those programs to figure out their methodological assumptions, goals, achievements and drawbacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the state respond to members of the public seeking to mobilize its coercive power? Focusing on welfare fraud control units in the United States, we examine how race/ethnicity and written English proficiency affect access to systems for reporting welfare fraud suspicions. Using a correspondence audit, we assess fraud control authorities' likelihood of taking up reports from Latinas and Whites with higher and lower English proficiency. We find that fraud units are less likely to take up lower‐proficiency Whites' reports, but that lower proficiency's uptake‐dampening effect does not hold for Latinas. To explain the mechanisms underlying our experimental results, we draw on interviews with fraud investigators. The interview evidence reveals the determinations of investigative promise underlying these uptake disparities. For White reporters, English errors cue gatekeepers' preexisting skepticism about public reporters' reliability, decreasing enthusiasm for investing resources in these reports. Reports from lower‐English proficiency Latinas offer special viability appeal, however, offsetting the negative influence on uptake probability that errors demonstrate for White reporters. Our results shed new light on contemporary racial/ethnic dynamics in the US welfare system, and advance social scientific understanding of how bureaucratic gatekeepers decide what to do—if anything—with volunteered reports of misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retractions of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) papers in high impact journals, such as The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine, have been panned as major scientific fraud in public media. The initial reaction to this news was to seek out scapegoats and blame individual authors, peer‐reviewers, editors, and journals for wrong doing. This paper suggests that scapegoating a few individuals for faulty science is a myopic approach to the more profound problem with peer‐review. Peer‐review in its current limited form cannot be expected to adequately address the scope and complexity of large interdisciplinary science research collaboration, which is central in translational research. In addition, empirical studies on the effectiveness of traditional peer‐review reveal its very real potential for bias and groupthink; as such, expectations regarding the capacity and effectiveness of the current peer review process are unrealistic. This paper proposes a new vision of peer‐review in translational science that, on the one hand, would allow for early release of a manuscript to ensure expediency, whereas also creating a forum or a collective of various experts to actively comment, scrutinize, and even build on the research under review. The aim would be to not only generate open discussion and oversight respecting the quality and limitations of the research, but also to assess the extent and the means for that knowledge to translate into social benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, policy‐makers in science have been concerned with harmonizing research integrity standards across Europe. These standards are encapsulated in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Yet, almost every European country today has its own national‐level code of conduct for research integrity. In this study we document in detail how national‐level codes diverge on almost all aspects concerning research integrity—except for what constitutes egregious misconduct. Besides allowing for potentially unfair responses to joint misconduct by international collaborations, we argue that the divergences raise questions about the envisaged self‐regulatory function of the codes of conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research publications are reaching a stunning growth rate. Therefore, new challenges regarding managing the peer-review activities are presented, such as data security, privacy, integrity, fragmentation, and isolation. Further, because of the emergence of predatory journals and research fraud, there is a need to assess the quality of the peer-review process. This research proposes a fully functional blockchain-based editorial management system, namely, TimedChain, for managing the peer-review process from submission to publication. TimedChain provides secure, interoperable, transparent, and efficient access to manuscripts by publishers, authors, readers, and other third parties. Time-based smart contracts and advanced encryption techniques are employed for governing transactions, controlling access, and providing further security. An incentive mechanism that evaluates publishers' value respecting their efforts at managing and maintaining research data and creating new blocks is introduced. Extensive experiments were conducted for performance evaluation. Results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed system in governing a large set of data at low latency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonrelativistic quantum mechanics (QM) works perfectly well for all practical purposes. Once one admits, however, that a successful scientific theory is supposed not only to make predictions but also to tell us a story about the world in which we live, a philosophical problem emerges: in the specific case of QM, it is not possible to associate with the theory a unique scientific image of the world; there are several images. The fact that the theory may be compatible with distinct ontologies, and that those ontologies may themselves be associated with a plurality of metaphysical approaches, gives rise to the problem of metaphysical underdetermination. This paper concludes that the available metametaphysical criteria fail to deliver objectivity in theory choice, and it puts forward its own criterion based on a tension between two methods of metaphysical inquiry: one that is closely related to science and another that is not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in applying sociological tools to analysing the social nature, antecedents and consequences of artificial intelligence (AI) has been rekindled in recent years. However, for researchers new to this field of enquiry, navigating the expansive literature can be challenging. This paper presents a practical way to help these researchers to think about, search and read the literature more effectively. It divides the literature into three categories. Research in each category is informed by one analytic perspective and analyses one "type" of AI. Research informed by the "scientific AI" perspective analyses "AI" as a science or scientific research field. Research underlain by the "technical AI" perspective studies "AI" as a meta‐technology and analyses its various applications and subtechnologies. Research informed by the "cultural AI" perspective views AI development as a social phenomenon and examines its interactions with the wider social, cultural, economic and political conditions in which it develops and by which it is shaped. These analytic perspectives reflect the evolution of "AI" from chiefly a scientific research subject during the twentieth century to a widely commercialised innovation in recent decades and increasingly to a distinctive socio‐cultural phenomenon today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research findings show that legal cynicism—a cultural frame in which skepticism about laws, the legal system, and police is expressed—is important in understanding neighborhood variation in engagement with the police, particularly in racially isolated African American communities. We argue that legal cynicism is also useful for understanding neighborhood variation in complaints about police misconduct. Using data on complaints filed in Chicago between 2012 and 2014, we show that grievances disproportionately came from racially segregated neighborhoods and that a measure of legal cynicism from the mid‐1990s predicts complaints about abuse of police power two decades later. The association between legal cynicism and complaints is net of prior complaints, reported crime, imprisonment, and other structural factors that contribute to the frequency and nature of interactions involving police and residents. Legal cynicism also mediates the influence of racially isolated neighborhoods on complaints. The mid‐1990s is the approximate midpoint of a half‐century of police scandals in Chicago. Our research findings suggest that contemporary complaints about police misconduct in highly segregated Chicago neighborhoods are grounded in collectively shared historical memories of police malfeasance. They also suggest that persistent complaints about police misconduct may represent officially memorialized expressions of enduring racial protest against police abuse of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research findings show that legal cynicism—a cultural frame in which skepticism about laws, the legal system, and police is expressed—is important in understanding neighborhood variation in engagement with the police, particularly in racially isolated African American communities. We argue that legal cynicism is also useful for understanding neighborhood variation in complaints about police misconduct. Using data on complaints filed in Chicago between 2012 and 2014, we show that grievances disproportionately came from racially segregated neighborhoods and that a measure of legal cynicism from the mid‐1990s predicts complaints about abuse of police power two decades later. The association between legal cynicism and complaints is net of prior complaints, reported crime, imprisonment, and other structural factors that contribute to the frequency and nature of interactions involving police and residents. Legal cynicism also mediates the influence of racially isolated neighborhoods on complaints. The mid‐1990s is the approximate midpoint of a half‐century of police scandals in Chicago. Our research findings suggest that contemporary complaints about police misconduct in highly segregated Chicago neighborhoods are grounded in collectively shared historical memories of police malfeasance. They also suggest that persistent complaints about police misconduct may represent officially memorialized expressions of enduring racial protest against police abuse of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of a project combining anthropological practice and research to examine various aspects of U.S. Marine Corps culture, conducted at the organization's request, in the wake of significant gender‐related misconduct involving Marines on social media. We examine the context and practice leading up to the research, address research design and execution, and describe both the broader Marine population and the characteristics of those in our sample. By examining the details of the project's context and execution, the article aims to advance anthropological discussion about the complexities of research with active duty military personnel, as well as provide insights into practice and research conducted from a standpoint within a military organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While researchers with retracted papers – publications that are withdrawn because of significant errors or scientific misconduct – carry a permanent stain on their publishing records, understanding the causes and initiators of such retractions can shed a different light on the matter. This paper, based on a random sample of 2,046 retracted papers, which were published between 1975 and 2019, extracted from Retraction Watch and the websites of major publishers, shows that 53% of the retraction notices do not specify who initiated the retraction. Nearly 10% of the retraction notes either omit or do not contain information related to reasons for retractions. Furthermore, most of the retracted papers in our sample have no limitation section; those who do are commonly unhelpful or irrelevant. The results carry three implications for scientific transparency: retraction notices need to be more informative; limitation sections ought to be a required and even an open section of all published articles; and finally, promoting 'heroic acts' in science can positively change the current publishing culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a great deal of research has focussed on and continues to focus on fraud prevention and detection, there is still no reliable way to predict who will become a white‐collar criminal/fraudster. Significant benefits would result if and when this can be done. This paper recognizes that there are many common characteristics that exist among fraudsters and investigates whether fraud can be predicted based on the psychological, sociological, and environmental state of children throughout their upbringing. Research shows that children with a negative childhood develop negative habits, emotions, and mentalities, including disorders that can linger well into their adult lives. These negative characteristics can ruin relationships and possibly even influence an individual to commit fraud. This paper provides initial evidence regarding the potential significance of some childhood characteristics that may contribute to the likelihood that someone will become a white‐collar criminal. Given that no other similar research exists, this paper may help guide future researchers who are also attempting to solve this complex problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]