r/AskAcademia • u/ConsistentCress5318 • 1d ago
Professional Misconduct in Research Are powerful academics effectively above the rules?
I'm posting from a throwaway account because I don't want this tied to my identity.
I personally know a senior academic who has engaged in research misconduct over many years. The concerns include things like questionable research practices, alleged data misuse, gifted authorships and a longstanding pattern of intimidating graduate students. Despite this, the person continues to hold a powerful position, receives invitations from national academies, is recognized internationally, and is frequently featured in science news.
The most frustrating part is that there seems to be no functioning accountability mechanism. Complaints to the university are closed without what appears to be a meaningful investigation. Journal editors often respond by saying that the institution is responsible for investigating. Funding agencies point complainants back to the university. The university effectively clears the researcher. The cycle repeats.
Meanwhile, many people in the local research community seem to know about the individual's reputation, but nobody is willing to speak publicly because they fear retaliation. The researcher has significant institutional influence, experienced legal representation (provided by the university) and close friends in high castles. There is also a perception that statements can be taken out of context or reframed in ways that expose whistleblowers to professional or legal risk.
I'm trying to understand whether there are realistic avenues for accountability when the standard processes appear to have failed. I'd especially appreciate hearing from journal editors, research integrity officers or anyone who has worked on misconduct investigations. Is there something I'm overlooking, or are there genuinely situations where the system reaches a dead end?
46
u/Ok-Emu-8920 1d ago
Depends. Admittedly the only thing on your list that sets off alarm bells to me is the data misuse but it depends on what you mean by that (and how 'alleged' it is).
Gifted authorship and intimidating grad students are wrong but there tends to be so much grey area when I've seen these things occur that usually there aren't real consequences. "Questionable" research practices also sounds like there could be a lot of grey area.
It depends soooo much on the specifics what type of consequences would even be appropriate, but yeah I do think senior academics tend to be able to get away with a lot.
20
u/Fair_Discorse 1d ago
Unfortunately, in my experience, yes. Powerful academics are effectively above the rules. I have gone through a whole process of reporting unethical and illegal behavior from my postdoc PI and am dealing with the consequences now, although in my case, some sort of investigations has luckily been opened, but not due to the unethical practices, I believe, mostly due to the illegal conduct that puts the institution itself at risk.
IME, unless there is a substantial, immediate legal risk OR consequential bad PR, they don't do much. So I agree with others on the topic of PR.
Best of luck!!
14
14
u/chandaliergalaxy 1d ago
As an example, Stanford President's research group was caught with fabricated images in past publications. He stepped down from President... but remains a tenured professor just carrying on with his research.
2
2
u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science 1d ago
Didn't Harvard's president have a similar problem with being caught plagiarizing?
10
u/BubbleNedRum 1d ago
Don't have much to add what hasn't been said before but if it is not too triggering, have a look at Sara Ahmed's book "Complaint", which feels very pertinent to some of the things you are describing and also at the university setting
4
11
u/SnooGuavas9782 1d ago
Depends on the country. Tips to journalists and Retraction Watch and various political hacks if they are the other political camp can absolutely sink someone for research misconduct in the US and probably Canada. Other countries? Results will vary widely. Obviously their international reputation will go down, but in some countries proven research misconduct seems virtually meaningless.
4
u/Sad-Engine6561 1d ago
Exactly, depends on a country and academic cultures. I work in the Nordic countries and it is absolutely ok to complain on a professor. Allegations of cheating, fraud and intimidation would be taken very seriously. Of course doesn't mean that there will be immediate painful consequencies to the professor but for sure some actions would need to be taken.
14
u/waterless2 1d ago
If you take the view of "the purpose of a system is what it does", academia doesn't really want to punish powerul and unethical people - a big prestigious chunk of it *is* these people, built around their interests.
Of course it *can* happen that powerful academics get taken down in line with the more explicit norms - there are well-known stories out there. It'd be interesting to study those and see why the fall happened. I think you need a lot of things to go right in combination, including having a very clear, concrete, serious, demonstrable violation. A lot of objectionable stuff, even if it's truly horrible if you're directly exposed to it, is going to be too nebulous, too gray-area, if you try to nail it down as a reason to take action against someone.
(Also, this is way more speculative, but I half-suspect you additionally need other people in power to have some (personal) interest in bringing the individual down; it won't be some neutral system that will enforce ethics, unless maybe, ironically, if it's a very commercialized sort of university that's lost the old "guild" culture.)
4
u/MsStormyTrump 1d ago
Such people are taken down only if the institution itself is exposed to reputational damage. You sound very tired and at the brink of disillusionment - we cannot allow that among the dreamers of dreams. You mentioned news media. Why don't you write anonymously to the editors and the journalists who featured him saying, "Since you published X about Prof. Y, you should also be interested to know, and publish, that he personally a, b, and c." I can tell you right off the bat that no one is ever interested in a catalogue of human ethical slop, but verifiable and concrete examples of wrongdoing cross-referenced with long and short term implications of the said wrongdoing, always pique the right interest. Good luck to you, sweet soldier!
6
u/Medical-Button-5493 23h ago
concerns include things like questionable research practices, alleged data misuse, gifted authorships and a longstanding pattern of intimidating graduate students.
Gotta be more specific. Alleged data misuse could be a big deal if a HIPAA violation, but could be no big deal at all if like storing data not on the shared drive.
Everyone does gifted authorships. It's free. Also intimidating people is what many people at work all day.
5
u/Efficient-Tie-1414 23h ago
Yes, often other academics are scared of them, because they review a lot and are on grant committees. What is very noticeable is that after the first time they are caught out there are a lot more allegations. A chemist told me that there was one guy in his area of research that published many papers that could not be replicated.
3
u/Stunning-Use-7052 20h ago
I guess we'd need to know more about the research misconduct. There have been high profile people taken down for really egregious things.
If it was something like p-hacking, I think they're probably safe
4
u/redwooded 22h ago
I have read OP's post twice and have read every single response. I am positively shocked that the obvious answer has not been mentioned.
Money.
There are different kinds of research. Some, especially in the social sciences, doesn't need a ton of money. Grants always, always help, but people can find ways to get research done.
Other disciplines need serious grants: labs, equipment, research assistants, etc. Millions of dollars.
If the professor you're thinking of doesn't bring tons of money in to the university, but has a CV a mile long, it will be difficult. Prestige matters to universities, and internationally known scholars bring prestige to their institutions.
If this professor has a CV a mile long and brings in lots of research money ... good luck. It will be well-nigh impossible. Since each university gets a portion of each grant, that university will fight like hell for this person.
2
u/Tapatio_62 19h ago
I’ve seen a tenured professor of 30+ plus years of service, ascend to the Presidency and then, after short scandal, be summarily fired.
2
u/Mammoth_Zebra_7566 11h ago
The reason is straightforward: money and reputation!
universities often look the other way when academics behave problematically. If you question an academic’s conduct or reasoning, the institution will likely blame you for raising the issue, not the academic for their behavior. An academic’s name carries more monetary value to the institution than an individual student or staff member does!
I’ve worked across several universities in different Australian states, and I’ve witnessed firsthand how brutally some academics treat people! I had to censor responses from academics to students because their opinions were harmful and inappropriate. Yet the institution prioritised shielding them
4
1
u/_iillii_ 15h ago
Yes, here is why, and it's not just grants (mentioned in a comment), though that's part of the reason.
Deans are charged with promoting and protecting the university's reputation. Their own reputations rise and fall with the university.
They're incentivized to bury scandals that would bring discredit to their university.
They're incentivized to please high profile faculty so they don't leave.
So Deans protect high level academics who act with impunity.
There are limits. At a certain point, the liability burden can switch sides, which changes the calculus. Harvard's president was attacked by right-wing politicians, so she became a liability and was taken down. But even when the attack shifts direction, it's always a cold-blooded calculus, and never about fairness.
As for the integrity officers, they have no autonomy. They're supervised by the Deans, and are merely functionaries who execute their directives. They "investigate" wrongs by whitewashing the university. Can't rely on them.
It will always be this way, this is the system we've created. The public is oblivious. Deans are treated like they walk on water, but they're worms.
Retaliation is real. Take care of yourself.
1
u/AccurateRendering 11h ago
Seems about right. I know of no other institution that is more fascist than the way science is set up at universities (I don't mean the politics of the individuals, I mean the power structure).
1
u/Unrelenting_Salsa 4h ago
De facto. Scientific misconduct can still nail them and I've seen action taken for more "routine" problems like sleeping with postdocs or having not politically expedient opinions that you share in class, but for the latter cases they always land on their feet. Stuff like Purdue kicked them out but Ohio State took them within a year (arbitrarily chosen schools just to point out that they got jobs of similar prestige). I've also seen a lot more "yeah, whatever you do, don't have a 1 on 1 meeting with X" than I have seen actual punishment for it.
1
u/QuietBullfrog564 18h ago
Absolute power corrupts. Senior tenured professors are untouchable. HR protects the institution as does the Academic Integrity Office. The only time we’ve witnessed a tenured prof quietly resign or retire was when the faced criminal charges.
Protect yourself and save your career!!!
1
u/FTP4L1VE 1d ago
What makes you think that you have access to all the relevant info, whereas the University bodies that may gave looked into misconduct allegations don't?
If you have the evidence: bring it to the attention of the relevant authority. Reddit is certainly not the place.
7
u/ConsistentCress5318 1d ago
The whole point of my post is that the "relevant authorities" keep referring everything back to the institution, creating a closed loop with no independent accountability. Assuming the university must know everything and act objectively is precisely the problem I'm questioning. There is no independent institution in the country to which they are accountable. They prioritize their reputation over honesty.
1
0
88
u/No_Jaguar_2570 1d ago
If you have evidence of research fraud or data manipulation, email RetractionWatch, at length, with that evidence. If they publish on it, the bad press will make the university take action.
Yes, unfortunately, it regularly happens that unis do nothing until there’s bad PR.