Scientific misconduct in infectious diseases - European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) survey.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence and perception of scientific misconduct in infectious diseases (ID) and clinical microbiology (CM), as reported by the ID/CM community.

METHODS: An anonymous online ESCMID survey circulated among society members between October 2023 and June 2024; the questionnaire included data on participants' view on their own and their colleagues' scientific misconduct in the last 5 years.

RESULTS: The survey received 220 responses. Responders were 73% ID physicians, 52% men, 56% age 35-54 years, and represented 48 countries, mainly European (126 participants). The vast majority of participants (78%) reported they did not personally commit scientific misconduct, while 54% reported witnessing misconduct by colleagues in their field. The most commonly committed misconduct by both responders and their colleagues was misconduct of authorship rules, 14% and 41%, respectively. Overall, 18% reported witnessing misleading reporting and 14% reported witnessing non accurate reporting of conflict of interest. Nevertheless, the majority (>60%) of responders reported high confidence in the integrity of published work in the field of ID/CM. Approximately one third of responders were not aware of the ESCMID ethics advisory committee as an authority to which members can report misconduct.

CONCLUSIONS: Scientific misconduct, mostly related to violation of authorship rules, seems to be common in ID/CM. Efforts to improve scientific integrity should be made in order to keep trust in the scientific process.