'Permissive Culture of Data Manipulation' in Cancer Research Lab

The investigation committee reviewed 67 allegations, but declined to probe many more concerns that surfaced for the sake of time, according to the report.

Jacob and other witnesses argued that no one had challenged their data until OSU received allegations in November 2017. They stated that splicing different experimental runs together in such a way had at the times of publication been an acceptable practice in the field. The report states that during the investigation, the committee suspected members of Jacob's lab"were not truthful" about communicating with each other and were in frequent contact. They provided"remarkably similar, if not identical response statements, and mounted a 'circle the wagons' defense to any allegations," the report said.

In investigating one allegation, the committee members looked through files on Ghoshal's computer and found a collection of images that appeared to be in the process of being manipulated into a spliced-together image. They continued:"Further, providing original data that allows the committee to identify an additional falsification reinforces the conclusion that Dr. Jacob shows a disregard for the accepted practices and rigors of scientific inquiry and an intention to manipulate and deceive the reader."

Another fact limited the committee's willingness to trust members of Jacob's lab: The investigation found that most of the alleged manipulations appeared to be in the control lanes of figures, as opposed to being randomly distributed between control and experimental lanes, as one would expect of accidental errors. The fact that researchers and reviewers"primarily focus on the experimental data lanes," the report said, makes accidental error a less credible explanation.

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