> Ultimately, a lingering question is — as with paper mills — why so many suspect RCTs are being produced in the first place. Mol, from his experiences investigating the Egyptian studies, blames lack of oversight and superficial assessments that promote academics on the basis of their number of publications, as well as the lack of stringent checks from institutions and journals on bad practices.
A substantial part of what's happening here is that first-world countries with generally good cultures of research integrity are basing medical policy on studies done in countries where the system encourages researchers to cheat. British and US authorities can't put Egyptian or Chinese researchers in prison, can they?
I do agree it would be a major deterrent to doing such research, but as it stands you'll get fired for it anyway which is a pretty major deterrent.
Imagine same approach in politics. If some politics put lies in their speeches to manipulate with people, we should call them liers and put them in prison. But somehow it doesn't happen. Looks like society prefer conformity over responsibility.
No, there should be prison time for scientists who conduct unethical trials or publish fake results.
The public (and policy makers) place such immense trust in those people and what they publish that nothing less is even remotely adequate.
When someone puts arsenic in food, they go to prison – labeling the food with "contains arsenic" doesn't cut it.
Do this and watch science magically fix itself.