Sudbo: repeat offender

It looks like Norwegian researcher Jon Sudbo, who hit the headlines earlier this year for linkurl:fabricating;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/22952/ data for a Lancet paper has been at the data fraud game for quite some time. That?s the conclusion of a report made public on Friday by a commission set up to probe his research career. The commission members found that most of his 38 scientific publications were riddled with manipulation and fabrication of raw data. Even his doctoral dis

Written byStephen Pincock
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It looks like Norwegian researcher Jon Sudbo, who hit the headlines earlier this year for linkurl:fabricating;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/22952/ data for a Lancet paper has been at the data fraud game for quite some time. That?s the conclusion of a report made public on Friday by a commission set up to probe his research career. The commission members found that most of his 38 scientific publications were riddled with manipulation and fabrication of raw data. Even his doctoral dissertation is going to be rescinded, not to mention a number of his later works. The 147-page report criticizes the University of Oslo and the Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical Center at which Sudbo worked. Commission chair Anders Ekbom and his colleagues apparently believe Sudbo worked alone. They found no evidence that any of his co-authors or colleagues were party to the deceit. The hospital?s strategy director Stein Vaaler took it on the chin. "No one can fail to understand that the fabrication of research data is a bitter pill to swallow for the country's leading research hospital," he said. "We are grateful for the report and accept its conclusions. Now we will do everything in our power to learn from the criticism. We intend to roll up our sleeves and turn this situation into something that will eventually be positive for the hospital and for all medical research." Exactly what the future holds for Sudbo himself is unclear. Apparently, Norwegian authorities are considering striking him from the medical and dental registers. He has resigned from the university and is on sick leave from the hospital, AP reports.
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