Responsible scientific research at Inserm: a field study

In France, Inserm (National Institute of Health And Medical Research) puts considerable effort into scientific integrity and quality management since more than 10 yr. Quality managers are present in about one hundred of the three hundred Inserm Units (the “Unit” at Inserm is an individualized research laboratory, with a head which is nominated by the President of Inserm and a defined life span. Usually, Units are the result of partnerships of Inserm with universities, university hospitals and other research organizations). When Quality management audits are performed, various dysfunctions are noted. Some of these are related to scientific integrity and Questionable Research Practice. Since an increasing number of Inserm Units disposes of Quality management systems according to the ISO 9001 standard, Inserm promotes since several years ISO 9001 management concepts and tools to improve scientific integrity. “Scientific integrity” as used in the missions of the (American) Office of Research Integrity (ORI, https://ori.hhs.gov/policies-ori-mission) and materialized in the Singapore statement on Research integrity (https://wcrif.org/statement). The Singapore Statement is not a regulatory document and does not represent the official policies of the countries represented at the conference. Rather, the intent of the Singapore Statement is to provide ethical guidance which research organizations, governments, and scientists can use to develop policies, regulations, and codes of conduct (World Conference on Research Integrity, https://wcrif.org/statement). Inserm, like others (Bouter, Account. Res. 22, 148–161 (2015)), believes that ISO 9001 research management favors good quality and integrity of research. In this field study the degree of awareness and whether scientists in Inserm Units are ready to make specific efforts to foster integrity and quality of their research was investigated. This study shows that a majority of scientists considers integrity and quality as being necessary. However, it appears that knowledge and understanding of integrity and quality in research should be improved. An effort has to be made to increase this level, specific actions have to be taken but scientists at Inserm are willing to make this effort.