Publication and subsequent reliance on false study results would be detrimental for patient care. Unfortunately, research misconduct may originate from many sources. While there is evidence of ongoing research misconduct in all its forms, it is challenging to identify the actual occurrence of research misconduct, which is especially true for misconduct in clinical trials.
Research misconduct may originate from many sources. It is often difficult to detect and little is known regarding the prevalence or underlying causes of research misconduct among biomedical researchers.
There is a large body of literature on this interesting topic, but a distinct underlying reason that strikes me the most is the current prevailing scientific productivity incentive system that is based on positive/"groundbreaking" results, publication output and citations (most of it covered in the "publish or perish" mentality). If we can move away from this metric that does not necessarily translate to truly relevant contributions in science, perhaps researchers will be relieved of a substantial (but not the entire) burden to commit misconduct. The scientific community should also re-calibrate its stance, in practice, with regards to scientific novelty and scientific reproducibility (right now, there is no doubt that the whole enterprise gives more weight to the former, unfortunately).
In my opinion, the underlying cause is the pressure to publish more because of various reasons well known to the people related to academia. Dishonesty and misconduct can be minimized by inculcating research ethics during early period of professional education of young researchers. Educating students about what actually constitutes misconduct is also important because at times many researchers do not even realize that their practices are unethical.
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