This presentation by Laurent Gatto was part of OpenCon 2017's Next-Generation Initiatives Advancing Open panel. The #BulliedIntoBadScience campaign was initiated after several attempts to influence publishing practices at the University of Cambridge and in the UK. However, it seems at times impossible for academics, early stage and more senior, to change a broken system that is, sadly, just accepted by most. During this OpenCon 2017 Panel, Laurent shared some of the background of the #BulliedIntoBadScience campaign and reflected on early career researchers' challenges in fighting for a more ethical environment.

1. I won’t be #BulliedIntoBadScience!
Laurent Gatto https://lgatto.github.io @lgatt0
Link to slides: http://bit.ly/20171112OpenCon
These slides are available under a creative common CC-BY license. You are
free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format)
and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) for any purpose,
even commercially .
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2. Credit
• OpenConCam: OpenCon Cambridge group - http://www.openconcam.org/
• Corina Logan - @LoganCorina - http://corinalogan.com/
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3. http://BulliedIntoBadScience.org/
I have been constantly harassed by superiors to modify data in order to
provide better agreement with known experimental values in order to make
the paper look better for publishing at prestigious journals.
The Bullied Into Bad Science campaign is an initiative by early career
researchers (ECRs) for early career researchers who aim for a fairer, more
open and ethical research and publication environment.
”
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4. Background
• Elsevier/JISC negotiations (mid 2016) - FAIL
• Discussions at the University of Cambridge (end 2016) - mixed results
• Informal discussions with pro VC (start 2017) - FAIL
• Going public with #BulliedIntoBadScience (June 2017)
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5. Success?
• Corina just won a Shuttleworth Flash Grant for #BulliedIntoBadScience! WIN
• Numbers: 135 ECRs have signed it - 71 non-ECRs support it - ?
• Feedback - WIN (all good, no bad)
• In Cambridge - FAIL. (But that doesn’t matter, as long as others benefit. It
never was meant to be a Cambridge thing anyway) …
• … Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) in Cambridge: “No way on
God’s earth” - FAIL
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6. Continuing the fight
• Approach prominent academics directly.
• Evidence to the UK Parliament Science and Technology Committee inquiry
on Research Integrity.
• Update our web page, translations, regular blog posts, ….
• Bring the discussion about DORA to the Regent House (University of
Cambridge)?
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7. ECR struggle
• And my day job? Why do ECR need to fight for better, open and more
trustworthy research?
• What’s the impact on being an open activist on my career? Good, IMHO!
• So much work, so little time. There are too many fights to pick - pick the
battles that matter most to you.
• There are multiple ways to fight any battle, and often several are needed in
parallel: official procedure and community efforts.
• No researcher is too junior to fix science!
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8. I won’t be #BulliedIntoBadScience!
Thank you for listening!
Link to slides: http://bit.ly/20171112OpenCon
These slides are available under a creative common CC-BY license. You are
free to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format)
and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) for any purpose,
even commercially .
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