scientific misconduct

[gsafs24]

Not really sure how to put this, since I'm still a bit freaked out. I think my advisor committed scientific misconduct.

 

Long story short, I found out today that my advisor misrepresented data, which I helped to collect, while giving a presentation at a conference. It was done in a way that was clearly and without a doubt scientifically irresponsible, and done in a way to make our program look better.

 

I'd relayed to my advisor the limitations of the data I'd collected, when I originally sent the data to my advisor. I repeated this to my advisor prior to the presentation, several times, with my advisor's agreement that the data was severly limited. However, the expectations of our stakeholders must have exceeded the potential embarrassment of not having this data.

 

The interpretation of this data was misleading, and went on to misinform our funders and fellow academics at said conference. I have clear proof this data was misinterpreted, and could go to people higher up and make a strong case.

 

I'm not really sure what to do here. I recently decided to leave my program this semester, but have yet to relay this decision on to my advisor.

 

I'm wondering if it would be better to just leave gracefully. I'm considering transferring to another program in the university. However, part of me is quite angry about this and I feel my advisor should answer for this breach of intellectual honesty. Worse yet, my name was included on my advisor's presentation, and I don't want to be connected in any way to this. I'm considering transferring or moving on to another job, and then if my advisor attempts to publish this data, which would be a few years off, I'd raise objections then.

 

To be frank, I have no idea what I should do and am feeling overwhelmed. I just found out about this today and did not see this coming. Does anyone have any suggestions or support?

 

Thanks.

[thegirldetective]

Your University should have an Ombusperson, or an ethics officer of some sort. Track down this person immediately, get a confirmation that the conversation you are having is confidential, and talk to them about what happened. They can help advise you on how to manage the situation in a way that protects you (at least as much as is possible). You can possibly find this person for searching your university's web site for whistleblower protections.

 

Here are some other questions:

 

1) If you switch to another program, are you essentially switching fields? Or will your old advisor still be in the same scientific circles as you?

1a) If you will essentially be switching fields, you may want to ask your advisor to not include your name on any subsequent publications, because you are uncomfortable with the way they are interpreting the data collected. If you are not switching fields it may be a more delicate situation, since you don't want them to get mad and trash talk you to your future colleagues.

2) Be VERY careful about going to the program director/department head, or anyone in your current department. There is an unfortunate tendency for faculty to close ranks in this situation, screwing over the student. Going to someone employed at the level of the university (as opposed to department or program) is safer, because they will be thinking big-picture about the university's reputation.

[Guest |||]

As a side

 

Confidential conversations may often stop being so as soon as you admit the fraud having been comitted.

 

If you just want information, speak to this person in hypotheticals - i.e. what would happen If someone did this.

[fuzzylogician]

My advice is first of all, to get out of this situation. Switch advisors or programs as soon as you can, to distance yourself from the situation. You are the one in the most vulnerable position out of everyone involved, and you are the likeliest to get hurt if this becomes known. As mentioned above, it's unfortunately possible that the department or university will try to cover it up, as this kind of misconduct has ramifications for others, their reputation, and their funding opportunities. If it does come out, again it may hurt you if your name is associated with this work. Furthermore, not being able to get a letter of recommendation from your advisor for future jobs will also raise a red flag in the eyes of some potential employers. And, if you unsuccessfully try and rattle the boat, you may create enemies for yourself that will talk about you behind your back and make it hard for you to advance in your career after you are done with your PhD (e.g. when applying for jobs, grants, submitting papers for review, etc.). All in all, you have little to gain and a lot to lose, so the sooner you leave and start over in another place, the better. 

 

Before you leave, gather evidence of the misconduct - documents, email correspondences, the original data and its correct analysis, the presentations in which the data or its analysis were misrepresented, etc. Once you leave you may not have access to this information, and therefore may not be able to prove the wrongdoing. 

 

Once you are out of the situation, you can discreetly try and find out how you might go about reporting this situation to someone. I'd start as was mentioned by asking the ombudsperson hypothetical questions. I would not bring it up with people from the department itself before involving someone external, since that would give the department an opportunity to cover its tracks instead of dealing with the problem. Whatever you do, you need to make sure you are protected. At the very least, you can request that your name be removed from any publications using the data, if not from your advisor then from the journal editor, as soon as you know that a paper has been submitted. 

[threading_the_neidl]

As a side

 

Confidential conversations may often stop being so as soon as you admit the fraud having been comitted.

 

If you just want information, speak to this person in hypotheticals - i.e. what would happen If someone did this.

If you are speaking to an ombuds, they will let you know if they are a lawyer and if the conversation will be held in confidentiality. That means even if fraud or something illegal has occurred, they are ethically and institutionally bound by their professional accreditation to hold that confidence.

Now, if you're talking to a program advisor or chair and they say it's "confidential," then you may want to be more careful as they are not bound in the same way.

[threading_the_neidl]

Talk to your ombuds asap, but also start getting everything ready to go in your life. Try to line up a new position and get a letter of rec from your advisor before anything happens. You are not obligated to tell anyone immediately, as you really are the most vulnerable (and innocent!) party. Get everything worked out for you, then start the process of officially reporting the misconduct with your ombuds. The best thing you can do other than that is make your own copies of all relevant lab notebooks and data. Keep them in a safe place out of the lab for the time being, and when you report everything, give them to your department chair or whoever you trust. When you do leave, let everything go. Do not feel guilty and refuse to take any blame whether or not they are found to have lied. Do you have a feeling that higher ups in your program may be at odds or are already distrustful of your advisor? If so, it may be that they will actually be 100% on your side when their suspicions are confirmed. Scientific misconduct doesn't usually come out of nowhere, and I'm willing to bet that other faculty have noticed "off" interpretations or data with this person before.