Dynamic interactionism between research fraud and research culture: a commentary to Harvey’s analysis

ABSTRACT Increasingly more scholars are voicing concerns over fraudulent events and incidences of malpractice in academic research. Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, research fraud is a consequence or even a rational response to fitting into a malfunctioning research environment that is fetishised globally. The current system creates a toxic ecosystem for research in which short-term individual interests and institutional goals override long-terms ones. In addition, perverse incentive systems, unequal power balances and barriers to academic freedom define the rules of research. In response to Professor Lee Harvey bringing this debate with many unique examples to light, this commentary extends the conversation by emphasising the factors that create the pressure behind fraudulent studies, as well as listing the latent problems that establish socially acceptable albeit unethical norms that have led to a dysfunctional and destructive research culture in academia.