A former lecturer at Leiden University has committed fraud in at least fifteen scientific publications. This emerges from research by the university itself. According to Broadcasting West it concerns the Italian cognitive psychologist Lorenza Colzato, who worked in Leiden until 2017.
In 2019, several abuses came from the teacher to the light. For example, she would have manipulated research data, removed author names and illegally drained blood from test subjects. She is also said to have used incomplete and manipulated research data in grant applications.
After the first abuses were identified, the university decided to conduct further research into the teacher’s work. The University’s Scientific Integrity Committee (CWI) looked at 53 of the 174 scientific publications it has to her name.
Presented conclusions are incorrect
According to the committee, fraud was committed in at least fifteen publications. In several publications, the teacher has cheated with the number of test subjects. She also made changes to the study design and added control groups afterwards.
Colzato’s studies have been published in various scientific journals. In seven articles, the changes are “so serious that it is recommended to request the relevant journals to withdraw them”, according to the university’s study.
In eight other publications, the results have been weakened to such an extent by the proven fraud that the committee advises the journals to see for themselves how the readers should be informed about the fraud.
‘Every violation is one too many’
A university spokesperson emphasizes that the university pays a lot of attention to scientific integrity. “It is brought to the attention of researchers in various ways, but we also tell students about it in education,” the spokesperson told Omroep West. “For the university board, every violation of scientific integrity is one too many, that is clear.”
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