Hitting the Headlines: Research Integrity Scandals Shaping Legislation

Norway was the first country to establish national commit­tees for research ethics covering all fields of research. In 1990 it created groups for: medical and health research, social sciences and humanities, and science and technology. Each committee has 12 members, 10 from different academic fields and two lay persons, and the members include individuals competent in law and ethics. The committees’ principal tasks are to stimulate good research practice, prevent scientific miscon­duct, develop guidelines for research integrity, give advice on specific cases and inform the research community and the public about current and potentially relevant issues. The committees were established by the government and financed with public money but they are independent bodies and can not be instructed by state authorities. The committees have encouraged self-regulation and thereby improved the ethical norms and values in research. Ethical guidelines are the most important element in stimulating research integrity and preventing misconduct. The committee for medical and health research uses international guidelines such as the Helsinki declaration and Vancouver rules, while the other two committees have develop­ed national guidelines in their respective areas. The committee for social science and humanities had developed guidelines as early as 1993. It is widely agreed that these sets of guidelines have been successful. One reason is that they are integrated into the everyday prac­tice of research, as explanations of good research practice. Another is that they are widely used in education, as something referenced and used by postgraduate students. The present Norwegian system is complex. The same year that the research ethics committees were established, a national advisory board on biotechnology was also created. Over the last decade four new bodies have been added for technology, patenting, misconduct and human remains. These changes were triggered by developments in research ethics; in the disciplines themselves; new national and international regulations; and cases of scien­tific misconduct, especially a case of massive fabrication of data in the field of cancer research in 2006. Norway passed a law on ethics and integrity in research in 2007. The relationship and lessons from the committees will be presented, as well as an exploration of how the complexity of the present system may have unintend­ed consequences, such as signaling to the public that research is dangerous and generate fragmen­tation and tensions between the eight national institutions.