Assessment of Awareness of Research Misconduct among Interns in Nigeria

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Physiotherapy Department, General Hospital Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria

2 Chemical Pathology Department, Federal Medical Center Yola, Nigeria

3 Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Bayero University Kano, Kano, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Research is the source of evidence for all medical and allied procedures. Research misconducts are wrongdoings during the conduct of research which can be committed intentionally or ignorantly. Research misconduct includes plagiarism, falsification and fabrication of results. Novice researchers may commit misconduct unaware of it being an unwanted practice. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the awareness of interns of research misconduct.
Method: The present study was a cross sectional survey that utilized a questionnaire to obtain information on research misconduct among 53 interns at Federal medical center Yola, Nigeria using a purposive sampling technique. Data analysis was done using SPSS V20 utilizing frequency and percentage to summarize the data and chi-square to assess association between categorical variables.
Results: Majority (35.7%) of the participants were within the age range of 26-30. Males were 34 (65.4%) and mostly nurses were 17 (32.5%). Majority of the participants 45 (86.5%) were aware of informed consent but only less than two-fifth (2/5) were aware of declaration of Helsinki. More than 4/5 of the participants were aware of plagiarism (86.8%), fabrication (94.3%) and falsification (86.6%) of results in research.
Conclusion: Participants in this study showed a significant level of awareness of research misconduct.

Keywords

References

  1. Mubeen SM, Qu, Ghayas R, Adil Rizvi SH, Khan SA. Knowledge of scientific misconduct in publication among medical students. Educ Health. 2017; 30:140-5.
  2. Gupta A. Fraud   and      misconduct      in         clinical research:          A concern. Perspect    Clin            Res      2013;4: 144‑
  3. My Professor   Demands         to         be        listed   as         an        Author on Many            of my Papers.  The      Guardian         [Online            Edition].          5 June, 2021.Availablefrom:https://www.theguardian.com/higher‑education‑network/201
  4. Juyal D, Thawani V, Thaledi S. Plagiarism: An egregious form of misconduct. N. Am. J. Med. Sci. 2015; 7:77–80.
  5. Habermann B, Broome M, Pryor E.R, Ziner K.W. Research coordinators experiences with scientific misconduct and research integrity. Nurs. Res. 2010;59: 51–57.
  6. Albert T, Wager E. How to handle authorship disputes: a guide for new researchers. The COPE Report 2003. Available online at, https://www.publicationethics.org/files200 3pdf. Accessed 30th September 2018.
  7. World Health Organization. Declaration of Helsinki-Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. 59th WMA General Assembly. Seoul, Republic of Korea; 2008.
  8. Teixeira da Silva J. A., Helmar Bornemann‑Cimenti H, Tsigaris P. Optimizing peer review to minimize the risk of retracting COVID‑19‑related literature. Medicine Health Care and Philosophy. 2020 DOI: 10.1007/s11019-020-09990-z
  9. Ababneh RA, Alzoubi KH, Ababneh MA. Evaluation of Pharmacy Students’ Knowledge and Perception of Scientific Integrity. Educ. Sci. 2020; 10: 41. doi:10.3390/educsci10020041
  10. Muhammad DG, Adesina MA. Effect of Covid-19 pandemic on internship training in Nigeria. Yen Med J. 2021;3(2):83–84.
  11. Sismondo S,         Doucet                    Publication      ethics   and      the       ghost management of         medical            publication.     Bioethics         2010;24: 273‑83.
  12. Jain AK. Ethical issues in           scientific publication. Indian J Orthop. 2010;44: 235‑
  13. Chadha M, Jain AK. Ethical issues while reporting in scientific journals. Indian Spine J 2020;3: 1‑
  14. Nylenna M,        Fagerbakk       F,         Kierulf         Authorship:     Attitudes and practice            among Norwegian      researchers.      BMC   Med     Ethics  2014;15: 53.
  15. Seymour E, Hunter A-B, Laursen S.L, DeAntoni T. Establishing the benefits of research experiences for undergraduates in the sciences: First findings from a three-year study. Science Education. 2004; 91: 36-74.
  16. Shirazi B,        Jafarey             AM,     Moazam                   Plagiarism        and the medical fraternity:        A         study   of         knowledge      and      attitudes.         J Pak Med Assoc. 2010;60: 269‑73.
  17. Mallela KK, Walia R, TM CD, Das M, Sepolia S, Sethi P. Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice about Research Ethics among Dental Faculty in the North India. Journal of International Oral Health 2015; 7(Suppl 2):52-56.
  18. Hussain A, Nirgude AS, Kotian H. Knowledge, attitude and practice of informed consent process in biomedical research among postgraduate medical students. Int J Community Med Public Health 2019;6: 213-6.
  19. Al DemourS, Alzoubi KH, Alabsi A, Al Abdallat S, Alzayed A. Knowledge, awareness, and attitudes about research ethics committees and informed consent among resident doctors. International Journal of General Medicine. 2019;12: 141–45.
Future of Medical Education Journal
Volume 12, Issue 2
June 2022
Pages 9-14

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics