NOT-OD-02-020: FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT

Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS)
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FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT

Release Date:  December 13, 2001

NOTICE:  NOT-OD-02-020

Department of Health and Human Services

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and the 
Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final action in the following case:

Karen M. Ruggiero, Ph.D., Harvard University:  On November 26, 2001, the U.S. 
Public Health Service (PHS) entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with 
Harvard University and Karen M. Ruggiero, Ph.D., former Assistant Professor, 
Department of Psychology at Harvard University.  Based on the report of an 
inquiry conducted by Harvard University (Harvard Report), and related actions 
and findings by Harvard based on the Harvard Report, as well as additional 
analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, PHS found that
Dr. Ruggiero engaged in scientific misconduct by fabricating data in research 
supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Specifically, PHS and Harvard University found that:

(1)  Dr. Ruggiero fabricated three experiments, including data reported as 
having been obtained from a total of 240 participants, published in the 
following paper:  Ruggiero, K.M. & Marx, D.M.  "Less pain and more to gain:  
Why high-status group members blame their failure on discrimination."  Journal 
of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(4):774-784, 1999 (the "JPSP paper"). 
These experiments were also proposed in the "Research Plan" of an application 
submitted to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), NIH, by Dr. 
Ruggiero in September 1997 for grant 1 R03 MH58586-01, which was acknowledged 
as a source of support in the JPSP paper.  Dr. Ruggiero admits that she 
fabricated the data on the 240 participants in the JPSP paper.  At her 
request, a notice of retraction of this paper appeared in the Journal of 
Personality and Social Psychology 81(2):178, 2001.

(2)  Dr. Ruggiero fabricated two experiments, including data reported as 
having been obtained from a total of 360 participants, published in the 
following paper:  Ruggiero, K.M., Steele, J., Hwang, A., & Marx, D.M.  "Why 
did I get a "D"?  The effects of social comparisons on women"s attributions to 
discrimination."  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 26(10):1271-1283, 
2000 (the "PSPB paper").  These experiments were also proposed in the 
"Research Plan" of the application submitted by Dr. Ruggiero in September 1997 
for grant 1 R03 MH58586-01, which was acknowledged as a source of support in 
the PSPB paper. Dr. Ruggiero admits that she fabricated the data on the 360 
participants in the PSPB paper.  At her request, a notice of retraction of 
this paper appeared in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 
27(9):1237, 2001.

(3)  Dr. Ruggiero"s admittedly fabricated research from the JPSP and PSPB 
papers was cited in and served as the basis for an NIH Individual National 
Service Award application, F32 MH12868-01 and -01A1, formerly F32 HD41874, 
"Status effects in perceptions of preferential treatment," submitted in August 
2000 by one of Dr. Ruggiero"s post-doctoral fellows, with Dr. Ruggiero listed 
as the sponsor.

(4)  In connection with a Harvard School of Public Health grant application to 
NIH, 1 R01 HL065220-01, "Measuring racial discrimination for health research," 
Dr. Ruggiero submitted a subcontract in September 2000 citing the admittedly 
fabricated research from the JPSP and PSPB papers in support of her 
qualifications to serve as a subcontractor.

(5)  In July 1999 and July 2000, Dr. Ruggiero cited and included as 
"Preliminary Studies" her admittedly fabricated, PHS-supported research from 
the JPSP and PSPB papers in applications, "The ironic status effect," that she 
submitted to the National Science Foundation.

The Voluntary Exclusion Agreement (Agreement) states that:

(1)  Dr. Ruggiero agreed to exclude herself from any contracting or 
subcontracting with any agency of the United States Government and from 
eligibility for, or involvement in, nonprocurement transactions (e.g., grants 
and cooperative agreements) of the United States Government as defined in 45 
C.F.R. Part 76 (Debarment Regulations) for a period of five (5) years, 
beginning on November 26, 2001.

(2)  Dr. Ruggiero agreed to exclude herself from serving in any advisory 
capacity to PHS, including but not limited to service on any PHS advisory 
committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or as a consultant for a 
period of five (5) years, beginning on November 26, 2001.

(3)  Dr. Ruggiero agreed to submit a letter, with a copy to ORI and Harvard, 
to the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin requesting retraction of the 
following paper: Ruggiero, K.M. & Major, B.N.  "Group status and attributions 
to discrimination:  Are low- or high-status group members more likely to blame 
their failure on discrimination?"  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 
24:821-838, 1998.  Dr. Ruggiero further agreed that the letter submitted 
pursuant to this paragraph will state that the retraction is warranted 
"because serious questions exist concerning the validity of the data which 
relate solely to my own work and which do not implicate my coauthor in any 
way."  ORI received a copy of her letter to the editor, dated 
November 5, 2001.

(4)  Dr. Ruggiero agreed to submit a letter, with a copy to ORI and Harvard, 
to Psychological Science requesting a retraction of the following paper:  
Ruggiero, K.M., Mitchell, J.P., Krieger, N., Marx, D.M., & Lorenzo, M.L. "Now 
you see it, now you don"t:  Explicit versus implicit measures of the 
personal/group discrimination discrepancy."  Psychological Science 
22:57-67, 2000. 

Dr. Ruggiero further agreed that the letter submitted pursuant to this 
paragraph will state that the retraction is warranted "because I improperly 
excluded some participants who should have been included in the analyses and 
that this exclusion affected the reported results.  Moreover, the improper 
exclusion of data was solely my doing and was not contributed to or known by 
my coauthors."  ORI received a copy of her letter to the editor, dated October 
18, 2001.

INQUIRIES

For further information contact:

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Division of Investigative Oversight
Office of Research Integrity
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