FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT 

NIH GUIDE, Volume 26, Number 7, March 7, 1997

 

P.T. 34



Keywords:

  Ethics/Values in Science & Technol 

  Grants Administration/Policy+ 

 

Department of Health and Human Services

 

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI)

has made a final finding of scientific misconduct in the following

case:

 

James B. Boone, Jr., Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia:  Based

upon an investigation conducted by the University of Missouri-

Columbia, information obtained by the Office of Research Integrity

(ORI) during its oversight review, and Dr. Boone's own admission, ORI

found that Dr. Boone, former Research Assistant Professor, Department

of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences at the University of Missouri-

Columbia, engaged in scientific misconduct by fabricating and

falsifying data in biomedical research supported by a grant from the

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National

Institutes of Health (NIH).

 

Specifically, Dr. Boone fabricated the weights of individual,

isolated muscles that, in fact, had not been separated by dissection,

and falsely presented unrelated gamma counter results as having been

obtained from the same individual muscles.  He presented these data

to his laboratory director as the results from two experiments that

Dr. Boone admitted he did not complete.  Dr. Boone committed

additional falsifications in conducting research, including

presenting:  (1) a computer spread sheet that used the above

described sets of the fabricated primary data of muscle weights and

the falsified gamma counter results to generate false computations of

blood flow in separate muscles; (2) a computer spread sheet for the

statistical computations of the data from the two sets of fabricated

and falsified reduced data; and (3) a histogram derived from the

falsified reduced data that showed significant differences in some of

the fabricated experimental measurements on individual muscles.

 

Dr. Boone has accepted the ORI finding and has entered into a

Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with ORI in which he has voluntarily

agreed, for the three year period beginning February 10, 1997:

 

(1) to exclude himself from serving in any advisory capacity to the

Public Health Service (PHS), including but not limited to service on

any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or

as a consultant; and

 

(2) that any institution that submits an application for PHS support

for a research project on which the respondent's participation is

proposed or which uses the respondent in any capacity on PHS

supported research must concurrently submit a plan for supervision of

his duties.  The supervisory plan must be designed to ensure the

scientific integrity of the respondent's research contribution.  The

institution must submit a copy of the supervisory plan to ORI.

 

No scientific publications were required to be corrected as part of

this Agreement.

 

For further information, contact:

 

Acting Director, Division of Research Investigations

Office of Research Integrity

5515 Security Lane, Suite 700

Rockville, MD  20852

Telephone:  (301) 443-5330

 

.

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