The Committee for Dealing with Deviations from Good Research Practice has now come to the conclusion that researchers should be exempted from violating the Higher Education Ordinance.
- The main responsible researcher is considered to have carried out the study outside his employment and the committee's assessment has been that the regulations for good research practice do not apply to research outside university employment, says Professor Ulf Nilsson who was chairman of the committee's decision meeting in the press release.
Surprised by decision
Stefan Holgersson is responsible for the study and he is critical of how the case was handled.
In a longer email response to SVT Nyheter Öst, he describes how he is surprised by both Liu's and the review group's handling of the case.
- I am surprised that LiU has not interrupted the review of me in the same way as they did with Ossian (Grahn, one of the co-authors of the report, editor's note) when they came to the conclusion that I conducted the research outside my employment at LiU and thus not covered by the regulations they have relied on for their review, Stefan Holgersson writes to SVT Nyheter Öst.
In the email, he also writes that in future he will not publish research reports that are "politically sensitive" at Linköping University.
- I have learned that I will never again publish a research report at LiU that is politically sensitive and goes against the political opinion that senior executives at LiU have, writes Stefan Holgersson.
Great attention
It was at the end of 2019 that researchers at Linköping University (Liu) released the study "Is it possible to trust Brå ?: A study on bias in government research".
The study was strongly criticized by the Swedish Crime Prevention Council (Brå) for being unclear about how the review of their reports is done, something that the researchers believe may lead to decision-makers receiving incorrect information.
In the report, some interviewees also stated that the management of Brå had exposed them to "put them under pressure to change findings that were not desirable for political, ideological or other reasons".
The study received a lot of attention and gave rise to debate - but is also met with criticism.
An external request for disclosure of parts of the research material was received by the university - but then it emerged that the principal researcher carried out the study outside Linköping University's operations and in addition to his employment at Liu.
Therefore, the material was not considered a public document at Liu.
However, due to what emerged in the disclosure case regarding the research's organization and handling of researcher data, an internal investigation was initiated according to Liu's press release into other possible deviations from good research practice according to the Higher Education Ordinance.
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The professor about his part in the BRÅ report: "I am misquoted" Photo: Firat Celik / SVT