Displaying all 9 publications

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  1. Olesen AP, Amin L, Mahadi Z, Ibrahim M
    Account Res, 2019 04;26(3):157-175.
    PMID: 30982340 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2019.1607312
    The purpose of this study is to highlight the experiences of individuals who participate in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training program held at various universities in Malaysia. In response to a mailing request sent to 40 individuals who had undertaken a RCR training program, 15 participants agreed to be interviewed. The results of the study showed that the three main reasons for participating in the training were as follows: anticipation for knowledge gained; personal experience with research misconduct; and establishing a new network of researchers. In terms of the positive effects gained from undertaking the training, the participants highlighted an increased awareness of the issues and problems related to research misconduct; the need to promote integrity in research conduct; a change in the way they conduct their research; and a change in the way they confront and address misconduct. The findings of this study should be valuable for policy makers and those involved in the management of research programs and ethics, as it demonstrated the importance of RCR training in equipping researchers with the necessary knowledge to conduct research responsibly, and to avoid research misconduct.
  2. Olesen AP, Amin L, Mahadi Z, Ibrahim M
    Account Res, 2019 01;26(1):17-32.
    PMID: 30489163 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2018.1554444
    This study found that less than half of the respondents are willing to blow the whistle. The results reveal that a lack of protection with regard to the whistleblower's identity, the tedious investigative process, and the notion of avoiding confrontation, which is more apparent in Asian cultures as compared to the West, are among the reasons why individuals who witnessed misconduct chose to remain silent. Adhering to the Asian cultural upbringing where the young must respect the old, those of lower rank must obey those with higher authority, and subordinates do not question the actions of their superior, has become a norm even in the working environment. Therefore, emphasize the need for better protection for whistleblowers including using experienced individuals with a research ethics background to handle allegations from whistleblowers. In addition, established guidelines and procedures for whistleblowers with regard to voicing their allegations against colleagues engaged in research misconduct is still lacking or, to a certain extent, is still unknown to researchers. Thus, the concern indicates a need for institutions to create awareness among researchers regarding the existing platform for whistleblowers, or to develop a systematic and clear procedure which is reliable and independent to promote professionalism in academia.
  3. Chin WK, Thuraisingam AS, Kanagasabapathy S
    Account Res, 2021 May 05.
    PMID: 33857400 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2021.1917397
    Clinical trials play a critical role in the development of life-enhancing and life-sustaining biomedical advances. It is costly and, regardless of how well-designed and ethically conducted, there are always inherent uncertainties which subsequently expose human participants to the risk of injuries or even death. In Malaysia, compensation for clinical trial-related injury has not been incorporated into standard national regulations or policies. Therefore, when clinical trial-related injuries do occur, such participants cannot be compensated by researchers, and with the absence of specific statutory laws governing trial-related injury within the local legal framework, aggrieved parties need to seek legal redress and can only depend on the existing tort laws. To propose a viable compensation framework, the existing compensation regulations and policies implemented in India and South Africa are analyzed, and their best principles have been recommended. This study proposes the implementation of a no-fault compensation framework in Malaysia which should be disbursed efficiently at minimum administrative cost. This proposed approach should be mandated by the amendment of current laws governing biomedical research and, in the interim, should be adopted voluntarily by research sponsors, institutions and investigators conducting clinical trials in Malaysia.
  4. Rahman MT, Regenstein JM, Abu Kassim NL, Karim MM
    Account Res, 2021 11;28(8):492-516.
    PMID: 33290665 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2020.1860764
    Despite the widely used author contribution criteria, unethical authorship practices such as guest, ghost, and honorary authorship remain largely unsolved. We have identified six major reasons by analyzing 78 published papers addressing unethical authorship practice. Those are lack of: (i) awareness about and (ii) compliance with authorship criteria, (iii) universal definition and scope for determining authorship, (iv) common mechanisms for positioning an author in the list, (v) quantitative measures of intellectual contribution; and (vi) pressure to publish. As a  measure to control unethical practice, we have evaluated the possibility to adopt an author categorization scheme - proposed according to the common understanding of how first-, co-, principal-, or corresponding- author is perceived. Based on an online opinion survey, the scheme was supported by ~80% of the respondents (n=370). The impact of the proposed categorization was then evaluated using a novel mathematical tool to measure "Author Performance Index (API)" that can be higher for those who might have authored more papers as primary and/or principal authors than those as coauthors. Hence, if adopted, the proposed author categorization scheme together with the API would provide a better way to evaluate the credit of an individual as a primary and principal author.
  5. See HY, Mohamed MS, Mohd Noor SN, Low WY
    Account Res, 2019 01;26(1):49-64.
    PMID: 30526066 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2018.1556646
    The review of clinical trials with human participants in Malaysia is governed by a decentralized control system. The clinical trial protocols are reviewed by 13 registered research ethics committees (RECs) in Malaysia. A governmental body, the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau, is responsible for the inspection and oversight of these registered RECs to ensure that they comply with the regulatory requirements. However, this study highlights that each REC in Malaysia has a different standard operating procedure and ethical review process. Other procedural challenges identified include inadequate membership, poor mechanism for research monitoring after ethical approval, and insufficient resources. Establishments of a national standard of REC and a central ethics committee are suggested to ensure procedural compliance in the oversight of clinical trials in Malaysia. While there is a growing concern that procedural compliance may not have a direct impact on the protection of human subjects, our key point is that an ethical review system compliant with the national standards could serve as a strong framework to support and enhance the ethical quality of decision-making and judgement. We believe that being aware of how influential procedural compliance can be would help committees improve the ethical quality of their research review.
  6. Olesen AP, Amin L, Mahadi Z
    Account Res, 2017;24(8):469-482.
    PMID: 29087734 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2017.1399358
    Based on a previous survey by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) in the USA, a considerable number of foreign research scientists have been found guilty of research misconduct. However, it remains unclear as to whether or not cultural factors really contribute to research misconduct. This study is based on a series of interviews with Malaysian researchers from the local universities regarding their own professional experiences involving working with researchers or research students from different countries or of different nationalities. Most of the researchers interviewed agreed that cultures do shape individual character, which influences the way that such individuals conduct research, their decision-making, and their style of academic writing. Our findings also showed that working culture within the institution also influences research practices, as well as faculty mentorship of the younger generation of researchers. Given the fact such misconduct might be due to a lack of understanding of research or working cultures or practices within the institution, the impact on the scientific community and on society could be destructive. Therefore, it is suggested that the institution has an important role to play in orienting foreign researchers through training, mentoring, and discussion with regard to the "does" and "don'ts" related to research, and to provide them with an awareness of the importance of ethics when it comes to conducting research.
  7. Olesen AP, Amin L, Mahadi Z
    Account Res, 2018;25(3):125-141.
    PMID: 29394103 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2018.1429925
    This article offers a qualitative analysis of research misconduct witnessed by researchers during their careers, either by research students or fellow researchers, when conducting or supervising research in their respective departments. Interviews were conducted with 21 participants from various research backgrounds and with a range of research experience, from selected universities in Malaysia. Our study found that misbehavior such as manipulating research data, misrepresentation of research outcomes, plagiarism, authorship disputes, breaching of research protocols, and unethical research management was witnessed by participants among junior and senior researchers, albeit for different reasons. This indicates that despite the steps taken by the institutions to monitor research misconduct, it still occurs in the research community in Malaysian institution of higher education. Therefore, it is important to admit that misconduct still occurs and to create awareness and knowledge of it, particularly among the younger generation of researchers. The study concludes that it is better for researchers to be aware of the behaviors that are considered misconduct as well as the factors that contribute to misconduct to solve this problem.
  8. Manley S
    Account Res, 2023 May;30(4):219-245.
    PMID: 34569370 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2021.1986018
    Popular text-matching software generates a percentage of similarity - called a "similarity score" or "Similarity Index" - that quantifies the matching text between a particular manuscript and content in the software's archives, on the Internet and in electronic databases. Many evaluators rely on these simple figures as a proxy for plagiarism and thus avoid the burdensome task of inspecting the longer, detailed Similarity Reports. Yet similarity scores, though alluringly straightforward, are never enough to judge the presence (or absence) of plagiarism. Ideally, evaluators should always examine the Similarity Reports. Given the persistent use of simplistic similarity score thresholds at some academic journals and educational institutions, however, and the time that can be saved by relying on the scores, a method is arguably needed that encourages examining the Similarity Reports but still also allows evaluators to rely on the scores in some instances. This article proposes a four-band method to accomplish this. Used together, the bands oblige evaluators to acknowledge the risk of relying on the similarity scores yet still allow them to ultimately determine whether they wish to accept that risk. The bands - for most rigor, high rigor, moderate rigor and less rigor - should be tailored to an evaluator's particular needs.
  9. Abu Kassim NL, Mohd Bakri SK, Nusrat F, Salim E, Manjurul Karim M, Rahman MT
    Account Res, 2024 Dec;31(1):56-71.
    PMID: 35758245 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2022.2094256
    Considering the fact that publications serve as an important criterion to evaluate the scientific accomplishments of an individual within respective fields in academia, there has been an increasing trend to publish scientific articles whereby multiple authors are defined as primary, co-, or corresponding authors according to the roles performed. This article analyzes the authorship pattern in 4,561 papers (including 60 single-authored papers) from 1990 till 2020 of 94 academics who hold a position as professors and are affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at three different research universities in Malaysia. Only 708 papers (15.5% of 4,561 papers) were authored by less than three authors. In 3,080 papers (67.5% of 4,561 papers), those academics appeared as coauthors. Using different years as cutoff periods, it was observed that the appearance as coauthor in the papers had steeply risen around the years: 2006, 2007, 2008 and onwards. The increased number of authors in the multi-author papers and the appearance of the selected academics as coauthors reflect the extent of boosting of collaborative research in that period which corresponds to the adoption of the "publish or perish policy" by the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia.
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