Malpractice in medical sciences and negative impact of publications

Pragativahini News, Belagavi -The ICMR-National Institute of Traditional Medicine, Dept of Health Research (Govt of India), Belagavi organized a workshop on Integrity and Ethics in Clinical Research and Publications in India in collaboration with the KLE Academy  of Higher Education and Research (KLE Deemed University), Belagavi with support of the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi at the VK Institute of Dental Sciences, Belagavi on 8th Nov 2019.
The workshop had been designed to address the growing menace of research malpractice in medical sciences. It also highlighted the negative impact of publications made in predatory journals. The workshop was inaugurated with a key-note address from noted academician, editor and systematic reviewer Prof. Prathap Tharyan of Christian Medical College, Vellore, in presence of Prof.Vivek Saoji, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, KAHER, Dr.S.L. Hoti, Director-in-Charge ICMR-NITM and Dr.Subarna Roy, Scientist F, ICMR-NITM and Organizing Secretary of the
workshop.
During his keynote address Dr. Prathap Tharyan highlighted the need of such workshops. He narrated the incidences of misconduct in research from all over the globe and the actions taken thereupon. Dr. Tharyan suggested for inculcating research integrity among researchers from their entry in to scientific arena.
Dr.Archana Thakur, Jt Secretary UGC was the Chief Guest at the valedictory function, spoke on the initiatives of UGC in addressing the menace of publications in predatory journals. She also talked about the changes in policy and in requirements for PhD and other courses that the UGC is working upon to improve quality of research in India.
Dr. N.S.Dinesh, Scientist of Mechatronics of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru talked about the importance of thinking out of the box and making innovations following robust protocols and practical needs.
Dr.Srinivas Patnala, Visiting Fellow of Rhodes University, South Africa presented the statistics of various publications and the indicators of their quality. He suggested ways of improving data quality and integrity with respect to pre-clinical studies and basic research.
Dr.Harsha Hegde, Scientists of ICMR-NITM led group discussions on common malpractices and ethical issues plaguing the scientific and research communities. Dr.Roli Mathur, Scientist F, ICMR-National Institute of Disease Informatics, Bengaluru, who led the development of ICMR guidelines on research integrity and ethics deliberated on the guidelines in the perspective of the present challenges.
The workshop was attended by 12 Research Integrity Officers, scientist from various ICMR Institutes from various states who interacted to help ICMR network draft a standard operating procedure based on the guidelines made by the ICMR. This was the first meeting of the Research Integrity Officers of ICMR Institutes under the Research
Integrity Unit of the ICMR. The workshop was also attended by about 100 senior faculties and doctors and researchers from more than 20 medical research and academic institutions in the region.