Data sleuths who spotted research misconduct cleared of defamation
A court ruled that researchers identifying manipulated data cannot be liable for defamation if their conclusions are evidence-based. Francesca Gino's lawsuit against Harvard continues, emphasizing scientific dispute resolution.
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A court has ruled that researchers who identified manipulated data in studies cannot be held liable for defamation, as their conclusions were evidence-based. The case arose from a lawsuit filed by Francesca Gino, a Harvard Business School professor, who claimed defamation after the Data Colada team, consisting of Uri Simonsohn, Leif Nelson, and Joe Simmons, reported potential data fabrication in her work. Harvard conducted an internal investigation that confirmed research misconduct, leading to Gino's administrative leave. While the court dismissed most of Gino's claims against the Data Colada team, it allowed her lawsuit against Harvard to proceed, citing questions about the university's handling of the investigation. The court emphasized that scientific disputes should be resolved through scientific methods rather than litigation, and the researchers' cautious approach in presenting their findings protected them from defamation claims. This ruling underscores the importance of evidence-based reporting in science and may deter future lawsuits against researchers who expose misconduct.
- The court ruled that evidence-backed conclusions cannot constitute defamation.
- Francesca Gino's lawsuit against Harvard will continue, but most claims against the Data Colada team were dismissed.
- The ruling highlights the need for scientific disputes to be resolved through scientific methods.
- The cautious language used by the researchers helped protect them from defamation accusations.
- The case reinforces the value of transparency and evidence in scientific reporting.
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- Many commenters express relief that the court ruled in favor of evidence-based conclusions, viewing it as a positive outcome for scientific integrity.
- There is concern about the financial burden of legal battles, with discussions on the costs incurred by the defendants and the implications of defamation lawsuits on academic freedom.
- Several comments highlight the irony of researchers studying dishonesty facing defamation claims themselves, questioning the motivations behind such lawsuits.
- Some commenters call for reforms in defamation law to protect researchers from legal intimidation and to ensure scientific disputes are resolved through research rather than litigation.
- Links to related articles and resources are shared, indicating ongoing interest in the broader implications of this case within the academic community.
23 commentsDo folks have a sense of how much the costs would have been just to get dismissed for DC? Seems to be definitely over 10k (50k?) Or am I overestimating.
[0] https://www.badscience.net/files/The-Doctor-Will-Sue-You-Now...
> We were right about how the data were altered, Gino’s prevailing explanation for the alterations does not make sense, and yet we are the defendants in this case.
What's the academic term for "mic drop"?
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190568472/dan-ariely-frances...
Until such time as that legal system is fixed, the scientific community should take countermeasures against the law. I'm calling for some kind of universal default clause[1]. If you sue scientific accusers for defamation, you're not doing science anymore, so you should be automatically fired from or kicked out of any scientific institution you're a member of. You could obviously restrain this to only unproven allegations - i.e. get a scientific board to call the allegations bullshit first and then you can bring it to a court. But the pathway of allegations of fraud becoming "put up $100k in legal fees or shut up" is not acceptable in a free society.
[0] Related note: do you remember when Donald Trump was saying he wanted to "open up our libel laws" to make it EASIER to pull this shit!?
[1] "Universal default" is a concept in banking that treats defaulting on any loan the same as defaulting on the specific loan mentioned in the contract.
Curious on more than just this case. If I recall, there were several large scale misconduct cases that hit back to back. All of those still in flight?
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“Probably good for science”? That is science!
Boom. And the researchers didn't accuse a person of fabrication, they accused the data of being fabricated.
DataColada's legal defense (so far) was paid for by their own universities; there is also a $378K private GoFundMe organized by Simine Vazire [https://www.gofundme.com/f/uhbka-support-data-coladas-legal-...]. Yet apparently not a penny from the journals which Gino published in, or by HBS, or the funders of Gino's research.
(EDIT: this got upvoted, then suddenly multiply downvoted and flagged - why? I wrote it very carefully and double-checked every single statement. If anyone's quibbling the term "Francesca Gino's controversial $25m defamation lawsuit", that term was used by the MBA-watching blog https://poetsandquants.com/2024/09/12/judge-dismisses-france... )
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