SIS Professor working to detect research misconduct on a global scale
Professor Wade Bishop from the School of Information Sciences is committed to protecting and correcting the scholarly record with a focus on research data. Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented him from presenting his 2020 research at the World Conference on Research Integrity that year, he was able to attend and share his findings this June in Athens, Greece.
“I was a research integrity officer for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from 2017 to 2019. In the spring of 2020, my faculty development leave was on studying Research Data Management (RDM) and the Research Integrity Officers (RIOs) that investigate misconduct,” he explained.
According to the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, there are three kinds of research misconduct: falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism. As part of his past and current roles, Bishop has delivered training on Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and led inquiries and investigations into reports of research misconduct.
The World Conferences on Research Integrity Foundation (WCRIF) is crucial in promoting research integrity through its biannual conference and by publishing and disseminating agreed-upon guidance or policies. The conference is the largest event focused on Research Integrity and Responsible Conduct of Research.
At the conference, Bishop presented two posters. Apart from presenting his prior research on RDM and RIOs, he also shared the efforts of the UT Research Security Ambassadors at the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development (ORIED). In his capacity as the College of Communication and Information ambassador, he contributes to informing scholars on how to adhere to conflict of interest, export controls, cybersecurity, and other regulations when working internationally to safeguard U.S.-funded research and development.
Bishop emphasized, “The second poster I presented was about the Research Security Ambassador Program and the research enterprise at UT, which serves as a good model for other institutions to adopt.”
Concerns such as paper and peer review mills, predatory and hijacked journals, and the purchasing of authorship and citations are significant challenges across disciplines for the credibility of science.
Bishop highlighted that, beyond the posters, he was on a diplomatic mission to understand research practices globally. While in Athens, Bishop had the opportunity to visit Hadrian’s Library, the Acropolis, Aristotle’s Lyceum, and the Athens Olympic Museum, including stops at both the 2004 and 1896 Olympic stadiums.
“The coolest thing for me as a professor is to be where it all started,” Bishop said.
Aristotle founded his school in 335 BCE as a space to exercise, have philosophical conversations, and relax, which Bishop noted is not very different from the campus here in Knoxville. Bishop added that he tried unique foods and enjoyed exploring the streets of Athens.
The trip was supported by Scholarly Activity and Research Incentive Funds (SARIF) funds, Research and Innovation Center (RIC), and SIS development funds.
Bishop summed up his trip by saying, “The future of global research integrity is bright. AI provides new solutions to combat poor research practices, including efforts to de-index predatory journals, shut down paper mills, identify zombie randomized trials, and address other scholarly record issues. I met with colleagues from across the world who are working to protect and correct the scholarly record as well as assess the impact of RCR. UT is ahead in many aspects, and I value the exchange of ideas with colleagues from around the world. I look forward to using what I learned in my research and teaching.”
SIS Professor working to detect research misconduct on a global scale written by Kristen Gallant and originally published on the College of Communication & Information site.