Study Results from Monash University Provide New Insights into Research Policy (On the use of blockchain-based mechanisms to tackle academic misconduct)

Politics & Government Daily

2019 OCT 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics, Law & Government Daily -- Investigators publish new report on Research Policy. According to news reporting originating from Clayton, Australia, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Current incentives for publishing in academic journals result in a ‘winner-take-all’ contest-like situation, with significant benefits for publishing research in quality journals. At the same time, empirically, we observe a greater incidence of research misconduct.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Monash University, “The purpose of this paper is to summarize the nature and extent of the misconduct problem, to show why it may persist in the absence of conscious remedial action, and to discuss solutions that help lower the likelihood of spurious research escaping undetected. A simple model is constructed to emphasize that there exists the potential for a Prisoners’ Dilemma in academia, where scholars engage in misconduct at equilibrium (the Academic Dilemma). The paper then examines why conventional ‘centralized’ regulatory solutions under the current system are not likely to succeed in resolving the problem, analyzes the properties of a decentralized solution utilizing blockchains, and argues that once incentive structures in academia are factored in, a permissioned blockchain may emerge as an effective middle-ground solution for mitigating scientific misconduct.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “In doing so, the paper highlights the importance of new technologies and recent advancements in Open Science for battling misconduct, and takes stock of the evolving nature of academic publishing.”

For more information on this research see: On the use of blockchain-based mechanisms to tackle academic misconduct. Research Policy, 2019;48(9):103805. Research Policy can be contacted at: Elsevier, Radarweg 29, 1043 Nx Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Research Policy - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/research-policy/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting V. Mohan, Monash University, Monash Business School, Clayton, Vic, Australia.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.103805. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.