Featuring a set of dynamic and seasoned researchers, the UP Manila Science and Technology Week held a forum on November 24, 2020 that tackled the importance of performing research at the highest level of integrity.
With the topic “Research Integrity: Developing a Culture for the Responsible Conduct of Research,” speakers and members of the UPM Committee on Research Integrity established what research integrity is, what research misconducts are, and the need for an Office of Research Integrity in the academic setting.
UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla highlighted the challenge for a university to provide a researchconducive environment for its faculty, staff, and students. Through the Research Ethics Board, Research Grants Administration Office, and Technology Transfer and Business Office, UP Manila was able to register 6000 researches beginning 2014 and 300 COVID-related researches starting March 2020. She perceives a “flourishing and responsible health research at UP Manila” if research integrity is nurtured and promoted.
An in-depth lecture on research integrity was presented by Dr. Jean Anne Toral, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and member of the UPM Committee on Research Integrity. Dr. Toral expounded on the best practices for research integrity. Differentiating an Office of Research Integrity (ORI) from an Ethics Review Board (ERB), Dr. Toral explained that an ORI ensures all stakeholders in research adhere to the core values in every step of the research process. It is where research misconduct is generally reported to whereas the ERB reviews the methods of the study proposal to ensure that research ethics are applied to protect the rights and welfare of subject participants.
A lecture on the “Epidemiology of Research Misconduct/Retractions during the Pandemic” by Dr. Jacinto Blas V. Mantaring III followed. The overall chair of the UPM Research Ethics Board explained that fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism are the three biggest ‘sins’ that constitute scientific malfeasance and misconduct. He defined fabrication as making up data or results and recording or reporting them; falsification as manipulating research materials, equipment, or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record; and plagiarism as the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit.
Dr. Mantaring presented a study by Reyes and Ariate Jr. which looked at the plagiarism committed by faculty members and students of the University of the Philippines System in scientific publications and found 74 verifiable plagiarism cases between 1936 and 2018 which resulted in varied consequences to the authors. He also raised the issue of the number of COVID-related retractions. “The urgency to find solutions to the pandemic contributed to the publication of fraudulent science and incorrect claims” which resulted in vaccine scare. Hence, Dr. Mantaring stressed the need to create an environment that promotes transparency, integrity, and accountability among researchers.
Towards the end of the session, Dr. Edward HM. Wang, UPM Committee on Research Integrity Chair and Orthopedics professor, spoke on the “Scientific Integrity in Health Research” with emphasis on the need for an Office of Research Integrity. Administrative Order 179 created the UP Manila Committee on Research Integrity whose aim is to “create an environment that promotes the responsible conduct of research.” Dr. Wang presented the committee’s output, the UP Manila Code for Responsible Conduct of Research, a four-page document containing the basic principles and responsibilities of the researcher and institution. The code intends to maintain an ethical culture and a framework for the responsible conduct of research at UP Manila.
Dr. Marilen Balolong, CAS Associate Dean for Research and Public Service and Dr. Katherine Ann Reyes, CPH Associate Dean for Research presented illustrative cases of misconduct. Also in attendance were Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-De La Paz, Dr. Rosario Rubite, and Dr. Emmanuel Estrella. Closing the session, Vice Chancellor for Research Armando Crisostomo expressed his pride of UP Manila’s code and hoped that constituent universities and other academic institutions will adapt it and establish their own ORI.
Anne Marie Alto
Featured in UP Manila Healthscape (Special COVID-19 Issue No. 21, December 2020)
