"Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Faces Allegations of Fake Research and Scientific Fraud"
Data sleuths have uncovered widespread data manipulation in cancer research papers published by leading researchers at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, prompting retractions and internal investigations. The manipulations involved blatant fraud, including reused images, copied and pasted test results, and identical data plots on different days. This issue is not new, as a 2016 study found that 3.8% of biomedical papers showed signs of image manipulation. The fact that external sleuthing was required to uncover these cases is troubling, as is the lack of institutional processes to review papers. The discovery of these challenges at Harvard University has brought public attention to the issue, and it is hoped that this will spark change in the field of biomedical research.
