A researcher on the road from the framing of a research question to the publication of the manuscript may be led astray by pitfalls.
In their paper, Nine pitfalls of research misconduct, published on 15 May 2018 in the Nature Magazine, Gunsalus and Robinson coined the mnemonic “TRAGEDIES” to capture the interlocking factors that may lead to such astray. TRAGEDIES represents:
- Temptation
- Rationalization
- Ambition
- Group and authority pressure
- Entitlement
- Deception
- Incrementalism
- Embarrassment
- Stupid systems
Gunsalus and Robinson gave some examples:
- Temptation
“Getting my name on this article would look really good on my CV.”
- Rationalization
“It’s only a few data points, and those runs were flawed anyway.”
- Ambition
“The better the story we can tell, the better a journal we can go for.”
- Group and authority pressure
“The PI’s instructions don’t exactly match the protocol approved by the ethics review board, but she is the senior researcher.”
- Entitlement
“I’ve worked so hard on this, and I know this works, and I need to get this publication.”
- Deception
“I’m sure it would have turned out this way (if I had done it).”
- Incrementalism
“It’s only a single data point I’m excluding, and just this once.”
- Embarrassment
“I don’t want to look foolish for not knowing how to do this.”
- Stupid systems
“It counts more if we divide this manuscript into three submissions instead of just one.”
Recognizing these and responding appropriately can save a career and strengthen science.