Perspective on reducing errors in research

Hanan Aboumatar; Carol Thompson; Emmanuel Garcia-Morales; Ayse P Gurses; Mohammad Naqibuddin; Jamia Saunders; Samuel W Kim; Robert AWise

doi:10.1016/j.conctc.2021.100838

Perspective on reducing errors in research

Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2021 Aug 18:23:100838. doi: 10.1016/j.conctc.2021.100838. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Authors

Hanan Aboumatar^{1

2

3

4}, Carol Thompson⁵, Emmanuel Garcia-Morales^{1

6}, Ayse P Gurses^{1

7

8

9}, Mohammad Naqibuddin¹, Jamia Saunders¹, Samuel W Kim¹, Robert AWise^{6

10}

Affiliations

¹ Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, JHU, Baltimore, MD, USA.
² Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, JHSOM, JHU Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
³ Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
⁴ Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
⁵ Johns Hopkins Biostatistics Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁶ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁷ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
⁸ Division of Health Sciences Informatics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
⁹ Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
¹⁰ Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Abstract

Efforts to ensure research integrity has mostly focused on research misconduct. However, the complexity of research operations and processes makes research work also prone to unintentional errors. To safeguard against errors and their consequences, strategies for error reduction, detection, and mitigation can be applied to research work. Nurturing a scientific culture that encourages error disclosure and rectification is essential to reduce the negative consequences of errors. Creating repositories where errors can be reported can enable learning from errors and creation of more robust research processes.

Keywords: Error detection; Error reduction strategies; Research errors.