89%: Percentage of cancer research "landmark papers" from "top journals" which could not be replicated (47 out of 53).1
417: Number of citations for the 47 unreproducible papers.1
36%: Percentage of scientists who admit engaging in questionable research practices or fraud.2
$216,884: Amount of an NSF grant to study "Why politicians make vague statements".3
75%: Percentage of retracted drug studies which were due to fraud.4
32%: Percentage of retracted papers that are never noted as being retracted.5
$500,000: Cost of investigating a single instance of scientific misconduct.6
>50% of claimed research findings are false.7
86%: Percentage of scientists who admit to witnessing their peers commit fraud or questionable research practices.2
$1,600,000,000: Taxpayer dollars spent on alternative medicine research such as the effect of magnets on arthritis and whether lavender and lemon scents promote healing.8
15%: Percentage of research trainees who said they'd be willing to omit or fabricate data to win a grant or publish a paper.9
47%: Percentage of addiction researchers who reported knowledge of research misconduct.10
$100,000,000: Direct cost of scientific misconduct in the U.S. per year.6
1) Begley & Ellis Nature 483, 531–533, 2012
2) Fanelli D (2009) How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data. PLoS ONE 4(5): e5738.
3) http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-pgc-wastebook-2010-pg-064,0,445859.photo
4) Samp JC, Schumock GT, Pickard AS. Retracted publications in the drug literature. Pharmacotherapy. 2012 Jul;32(7):586-95
5) Steen, R.G., J Med Ethics doi:10.1136/jme.2010.040923
6) Michalek AM, Hutson AD, Wicher CP, Trump DL (2010) The Costs and Underappreciated Consequences of Research Misconduct: A Case Study. PLoS Med 7(8): e1000318.
7) Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2005). "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False". PLoS Medicine 2 (8): e124.
8) http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/01/news/la-heb-alternative-medicine-nccam-paul-offit-20120501
9) Kalichman MW, Friedman PJ (1992): A pilot study of biomedical trainees' perceptions concerning research ethics. Academic Medicine 67: 769-775.
10) May C, Campbell S, Doyle H (1998) Research misconduct: A pilot study of British addiction researchers. Addiction Research 6: 371–373.
