Scientists say that, while no incidents of deception through digital image alteration have been reported, steps may have to be taken to protect data integrity. The Food and Drug Administration, reliant on electrophoresis studies as an aspect of its pharmaceutical regulatory work, for instance, may be called upon to develop procedures to protect original data from over-enhancement. Software manufacturers, too, may be asked to provide tamper-proof original data files that can later be consulted by reviewers, colleagues, and even the courts. Already, some have begun to incorporate these concerns into their designs.
"We provide in our analysis software no tools by which researchers can modify the original raw data image," says Molecular Dynamics' James Nelson.
"The only tool we provide them is [the ability to] delete."
In this way, the underlying data file remains "sacrosanct" and available for later scrutiny, according to Nelson. He calls that file "the equivalent of ...
