Can We Trust Your Data?

Research findings are not often retracted because of possible falsification of data. When medical treatment is based on falsified data, the potential for patient harm increases and lack of trust in the process that leads to evidence-based clinical decision making is substantial. A case involving a Duke University cancer physician-scientist who admitted basing human clinical trials of genomic signatures predicting chemotherapy sensitivity in breast, lung, and ovarian cancer on false data (Potti et al., 2006) is particularly egregious.