scholarly journals Historicizing the crisis of scientific misconduct in Indian science

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-506
Author(s):  
Mahendra Shahare ◽  
Lissa L. Roberts

A flurry of discussions about plagiarism and predatory publications in recent times has brought the issue of scientific misconduct in India to the fore. The debate has framed scientific misconduct in India as a recent phenomenon. This article questions that framing, which rests on the current tendency to define and police scientific misconduct as a matter of individual behavior. Without ignoring the role of individuals, this article contextualizes their actions by calling attention to the conduct of the institutions, as well as social and political structures that are historically responsible for governing the practice of science in India since the colonial period. Scientific (mis)conduct, in other words, is here examined as a historical phenomenon borne of the interaction between individuals’ aspirations and the systems that impose, measure, and reward scientific output in particular ways. Importantly, historicizing scientific misconduct in this way also underscores scientist-driven initiatives and regulatory interventions that have placed India at the leading edge of reform. With the formal establishment of the Society for Scientific Values in 1986, Indian scientists became the first national community worldwide to monitor research integrity in an institutionally organized way.

2017 ◽  
Vol 04 ◽  
pp. 40-54
Author(s):  
Avazbek Ganiyev Oybekovich ◽  
◽  
Hassan Shakeel Shah ◽  
Mohammad Ayaz ◽  
◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Nabyonga-Orem ◽  
James Avoka Asamani ◽  
Micheal Makanga

Abstract Background The developments in global health, digital technology, and persistent health systems challenges, coupled with global commitments like attainment of universal health coverage, have elevated the role of health research in low- and middle-income countries. However, there is a need to strengthen health research governance and create a conducive environment that can promote ethics and research integrity and increase public trust in research. Objective To assess whether the necessary structures are in place to ensure health research governance. Methods Employing a cross-sectional survey, we collected data on research governance components from 35 Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. Data were analysed using basic descriptive and comparative analysis. Results Eighteen out of 35 countries had legislation to regulate the conduct of health research, while this was lacking in 12 countries. Some legislation was either grossly outdated or too limiting in scope, while some countries had multiple laws. Health research policies and strategies were in place in 16 and 15 countries, respectively, while research priority lists were available in 25 countries. Overlapping mandates of institutions responsible for health research partly explained the lack of strategic documents in some countries. The majority of countries had ethical committees performing a dual role of ethical and scientific review. Research partnership frameworks were available to varying degrees to govern both in-country and north–south research collaboration. Twenty-five countries had a focal point and unit within the ministries of health (MoH) to coordinate research. Conclusion Governance structures must be adaptive to embrace new developments in science. Further, strong coordination is key to ensuring comprehensiveness and complementarity in both research development and generation of evidence. The majority of committees perform a dual role of ethics and scientific review, and these need to ensure representation of relevant expertise. Opportunities that accrue from collaborative research need to be seized through strong MoH leadership and clear partnership frameworks that guide negotiations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-428
Author(s):  
Miriam R. Lowi

Studies of identity and belonging in Gulf monarchies tend to privilege tribal or religious affiliation, if not the protective role of the ruler as paterfamilias. I focus instead on the ubiquitous foreigner and explore ways in which s/he contributes to the definition of national community in contemporary gcc states. Building upon and moving beyond the scholarly literature on imported labor in the Gulf, I suggest that the different ‘categories’ of foreigners impact identity and the consolidation of a community of privilege, in keeping with the national project of ruling families. Furthermore, I argue that the ‘European,’ the non-gcc Arab, and the predominantly Asian (and increasingly African) laborer play similar, but also distinct roles in the delineation of national community: while they are differentially incorporated in ways that protect the ‘nation’ and appease the citizen-subject, varying degrees of marginality reflect Gulf society’s perceptions or aspirations of the difference between itself and ‘the other(s).’


JAMA ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 264 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Wilbert S. Aronow

Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 115 (21) ◽  
pp. 4237-4246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Chen ◽  
Haiyang Tang ◽  
Nissim Hay ◽  
Jingsong Xu ◽  
Richard D. Ye

In neutrophils, the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt signaling cascade is involved in migration, degranulation, and O2− production. However, it is unclear whether the Akt kinase isoforms have distinct functions in neutrophil activation. Here we report functional differences between the 2 major Akt isoforms in neutrophil activation on the basis of studies in which we used individual Akt1 and Akt2 knockout mice. Akt2−/− neutrophils exhibited decreased cell migration, granule enzyme release, and O2− production compared with wild-type and Akt1−/− neutrophils. Surprisingly, Akt2 deficiency and pharmacologic inhibition of Akt also abrogated phorbol ester-induced O2− production, which was unaffected by treatment with the phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002. The decreased O2− production in Akt2−/− neutrophils was accompanied by reduced p47phox phosphorylation and its membrane translocation, suggesting that Akt2 is important for the assembly of phagocyte nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase. In wild-type neutrophils, Akt2 but not Akt1 translocated to plasma membrane upon chemoattractant stimulation and to the leading edge in polarized neutrophils. In the absence of Akt2, chemoattractant-induced Akt protein phosphorylation was significantly reduced. These results demonstrate a predominant role of Akt2 in regulating neutrophil functions and provide evidence for differential activation of the 2 Akt isoforms in neutrophils.


2010 ◽  
Vol 85 (8) ◽  
pp. 1296-1302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail Geller ◽  
Alison Boyce ◽  
Daniel E. Ford ◽  
Jeremy Sugarman

2007 ◽  
Vol 129 (03) ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur C. Ratzel

This article discusses growing role of silicon micro-electron-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology in automotive and consumer products, telecommunications, radio-frequency applications, and medical care. The article also highlights that silicon-based MEMS devices must be constructed in clean rooms, such as one at Sandia's Microelectronics Development laboratory. According to engineers, the search for an in-depth understanding of wear mechanisms in dynamic silicon MEMS is expected to drive an ambitious wave of leading-edge research into microscale science and engineering, distinct from that which prevailed at the mesoscale. It has been found that gas damping between MEMS structures and the substrate, within the sealed package, can cause serious nonlinearities. While this doesn't lead to failure in the classic sense, it may make it harder to close a switch. On the plus side, gas damping can provide a cushion that enables a MEMS device to survive surprisingly high shock loads.


1968 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Lonsdale

This paper attempts to provide a frame of reference for evaluating the role of ordinary rural Africans in national movements, in the belief that scholarly preoccupation with élites will only partially illumine the mainsprings of nationalism. Kenya has been taken as the main field of enquiry, with contrasts and comparisons drawn from Uganda and Tanganyika. The processes of social change are discussed with a view to establishing that by the end of the colonial period one can talk of peasants rather than tribesmen in some of the more progressive areas. This change entailed a decline in the leadership functions of tribal chiefs who were also the official agents of colonial rule, but did not necessarily mean the firm establishment of a new type of rural leadership. The central part of the paper is taken up with an account of the competition between these older and newer leaderships, for official recognition rather than a mass following. A popular following was one of the conditions for such recognition, but neither really achieved this prior to 1945 except in Kikuyuland, and there the newer leaders did not want official recognition. After 1945 the newer leadership, comprising especially traders and officials of marketing co-operatives, seems everywhere to have won a properly representative position, due mainly to the enforced agrarian changes which brought the peasant face to face with the central government, perhaps for the first time. This confrontation, together with the experience of failure in earlier and more local political activity, resulted in a national revolution coalescing from below, co-ordinated rather than instigated by the educated élite.


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