In a recent opinion piece for the Chronicle of Higher Ed, Alex O Holcombe (University of Sydney) argues that preventive measures must be taken to tackle the problem of data fabrication and fraud in academia. Holcombe explains that, when fraudulent data is discovered, vast amounts of academic expertise and university resources are subsequently deployed to audit, retract, and correct said data. The author asserts that universities and colleges should invest in good data management and record keeping practices as preventative measures against fraud with the support of software developers and applications. “If we want science to be something that society can still trust,” concludes Holcombe, “we must embrace good data management.”
