Scientific Misconduct and Grant Fraud

There is no doubt that our world is not a perfect world. Crime, disease, and poverty are among some of the biggest issues that prevent the world from becoming a consistent peaceful and prosperous environment. Of course, there are many things we, the people, do to try and create a perfect world, all one step at a time. One of these things is taking issues, analyzing the issue, and figuring out ways to solve them; or as it is called today, research. Without research, such things like vaccines, cell phones, the internet, or even the bills and laws that keep our nation together today wouldn’t have ever been made possible. Now, with that being said, research certainly takes a lot of time, but it also takes a good amount of financing as well. Millions and even billions of dollars are used by research groups each year in order to finance the scientific experiments, analytical projects, and statistical studies that allow for research groups to study and discover new ways to improve modern society.

Now where does all this money come from you might ask? Well, through government taxes and donations from public and private groups, millions of dollars in grants and donations are awarded to multiple research institutions across the nation each year, allowing them to sufficiently finance their studies and projects that will presumably benefit society each year (NIH). One of the biggest and main funders of nationwide research is the National Institute of Health, or NIH. Every year the NIH shells out hundreds of millions of dollars to federal and private research groups around the nation. Last year alone, the NIH provided just over thirty billion dollars in donations and grants to hundreds of research groups and areas, as shown here.(Chart P...

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... Over the years, scientific misconduct and grant fraud have been an increasing problem among public and private research institutions all over the world. With billions of dollars, young careers, and the advancement of medical knowledge and technology on the line, we must be able to trust these researchers to use the grant money for the benefit of everyone, and not for themselves. Everybody wants to see the world grow in a positive manners and see out the solutions to issues that keep the world from becoming a consistent peaceful environment. Funding research will always be an important aspect in making such a dream happen, and hopefully as research and technology takes the world closer to peace, the researchers making that happen will become aware of their actions and how they affect the integrity of not only their craft, but the integrity of the world as well.