For many academics today, research is not about pushing intellectual boundaries. It is not about investigating a fascinating issue so much as it is about churning out publications, demonstrating impact and generating revenue in order to meet the performance targets upon which institutional reputation and individual careers depend. The temptation to cut corners is immense. Tricks include getting your name on a paper that you contributed little towards, or ‘salami-slicing’ the same research across several publications. More seriously, some researchers falsify - misrepresent - their data, or even fabricate them entirely. Some universities tacitly encourage such behaviour and the boundary between academic integrity and malpractice is becoming blurred.
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