Lisa Bero, Chief Scientist, Center for Bioethics and Humanities, Professor Medicine and Public Health, University of Colorado, is a leader in evidence synthesis and studying commercial determinants of health, focusing on tobacco control, pharmaceutical policy, nutrition, chemicals and public health.  She pioneered the utilization of internal industry documents and transparency databases to understand corporate tactics and motives for influencing research evidence. She is internationally known for her studies on the integrity of research evidence used to influence health policy.   She was Co-Chair, Cochrane Governing Board 2014-2018 and is Senior Editor, Research Integrity, Cochrane. At the University of Sydney, she founded the Evidence, Policy and Influence Collaborative at the Charles Perkins Centre.

ABSTRACT:

Hijacking research integrity:  What can possibly go wrong and how can we fix it?

Problematic studies, including fraudulent or faked studies, need to be prevented, identified and eliminated in order to protect the integrity of the scientific literature.  To protect researchers from unjust accusations of breaches of research integrity, the methods for identifying and eliminating problematic studies must be transparent and defensible.  Corporate interests have a long history of attacking researchers who expose the tactics that companies use to manipulate science with the aim of overestimating efficacy, or underestimating harms, of their products.  There are many examples of how corporations and their lawyers attempt to silence researchers by filing complaints of research misconduct, fraud and unethical behaviour.  These complaints can derail ongoing research, as well as academic careers, and serve the purpose of shutting down research that threatens the profitability of corporate interests.  Thus, developers of methods to identify and eliminate problematic research must be aware of the potential consequences of their investigations and ensure that their investigations are valid and transparent.  Universities, journal editors and publishers, when presented with claims of research integrity breaches, should demand transparency about the source of the claims and evidence for the claim.