Abstract
Research in the social sciences provides insights into human behaviour and social interactions. Evidence from such research may inform policies and decisions affecting the lives of many. It requires trust between the researcher, research participants, other stakeholders and the public. To earn trust, the quality and integrity of work done by researchers should be impeccable.
Introducing the concepts of research integrity, research ethics and responsible conduct of research as desirable characteristics of research practice, this chapter also deals with questionable forms of research practice and research misconduct – the latter including fabrication, falsification and plagiarism.
Little is known about the prevalence of, and reasons for, research misconduct in Africa, and there are no national or regional policies, guidelines or structures to promote research integrity on the continent. The voice of Africa and perspectives from African researchers are largely missing in international debates and research about research integrity.
Possible risk factors that may lead to research misconduct or questionable research practices are highlighted, with examples specifically dealing with fabrication, plagiarism and authorship issues. Special reference is made to the risk of unequal power relations in internationally-funded research studies, and the need to provide support to research fieldworkers to ensure the quality and integrity of research and research relations.
Recommendations to strengthen research integrity in the social sciences in Africa include networking and information sharing, training and capacity building, research on research integrity (and research misconduct) and the introduction of policies, systems and structures to enhance research integrity institutionally, nationally and continentally.
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- 1.
In the period following receipt of this response package, more entities, also in other African countries, might have joined this group. The authors are anecdotally aware of at least one such instance, in Malawi.
- 2.
There are, however, some promising developments underway. These include work by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology on the development of a national research integrity policy (personal communication via e-mail, October 2018) and explicit reference, in the 2019 South African White Paper on Science And Technology, to the need to promote responsible research and innovation (RRI) across the National System of Innovation (NSI), and an intention to develop “the required governance framework to drive the RRI agenda across the NSI” (DST 2019, p. 19).
- 3.
Information correct as at 10 November 2018.
- 4.
A comprehensive and searchable database of more than 18 000 entries, developed by the Retraction Watch research team. The database was officially launched in October 2018, see http://retractiondatabase.org/.
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Suggested Further Readings
The reference list contains. recent and relevant publications that deal with research integrity in general, as well as research integrity in Africa.
In the absence of formal training. programmes or dedicated workshops, individual researchers and practitioners who are interested to learn or do more about research integrity can already benefit much from online resources. These include rich and dense information made available by coordinating bodies such as the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) in the United States of America, the United Kingdom Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) and ALLEA. The Retraction Watch blog provides topical information and comments about pitfalls of misconduct, but also good and valid reasons for retraction that actually bode well for research integrity. Many university sites also provide excellent sample policies and training materials that can be accessed by visitors. A summary of some of these resources was made by Van Zyl in 2017 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9gcuGd4Fnz2RExWRWdpRVBTblk/view).
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Van Zyl, C., Kombe, F., Okonta, P., Rossouw, T. (2019). Promoting Research Integrity and Avoiding Misconduct – Perspectives on and from Africa. In: Nortjé, N., Visagie, R., Wessels, J. (eds) Social Science Research Ethics in Africa. Research Ethics Forum, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15402-8_11
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