Former LiU researchers' latest cheat article is now withdrawn

The board of the technical faculty at Linköping University requests that the current scientific article be withdrawn.

This is a supplementary decision on the basis of a larger investigation into dishonesty, which led to the faculty board in December criticizing one of the former LiU researchers for scientific dishonesty in three cases.

- There has been a comprehensive investigation of what is popularly called research cheating, but which is more formally referred to as dishonesty in research, ie documents that lead to distorted or inventive research results or provide misleading information about who performed the research, says the dean of the Faculty of Engineering Ulf Nilsson, which made the investigation easy.

Following the previous decision to withdraw three scientific articles, sent another scientific article for review to the Central Ethics Review Board's expert group. Recently, their opinion came and pointed to several errors in the article's figures, which are considered to have been of decisive importance for the study's conclusions.

The researchers have also not been able to show the original data, but claimed that they disappeared during a computer theft.

- In this situation, researchers themselves should have withdrawn the article, emphasize the expert group and, overall, consider that the two researchers have been guilty of dishonesty in research.

On that line, the technical faculty board also attended its meeting on September 19.

Is LiU particularly vulnerable?

- I don't think it's more common here. We have few cases in total, something a year and most have not led to a fall. Our first precipitate was 2013. Before that, it was very rare.

- Awareness has increased and I think that contributes to more reports. Then the tendency to report has also increased. Both when there is a fire, but also false notifications that are something else. There is something else behind the reason for the notification.