Negative results in scientific research: ethical aspects

Guimarães, Renan Arthur Bosio; Succi, Guilherme de Menezes; Montalli, Victor Angelo Martins; Niederauer, Ana Júlia Schmidt; Succi, Regina Célia de Menezes

doi:10.1590/1983-80422018262245

person Renan Arthur Bosio Guimarães

school. Faculdade de Medicina São Leopoldo Mandic, Departamento de Medicina, Campinas/SP, Brasil.

person Guilherme de Menezes Succi

school. Faculdade de Medicina São Leopoldo Mandic, Departamento de Medicina, Campinas/SP, Brasil.

person Victor Angelo Martins Montalli

school. Faculdade de Odontologia São Leopoldo Mandic, Departamento de Medicina, Campinas/SP, Brasil

person Ana Júlia Schmidt Niederauer

school. Faculdade de Medicina São Leopoldo Mandic, Departamento de Medicina, Campinas/SP, Brasil.

person Regina Célia de Menezes Succi

school. Faculdade de Medicina São Leopoldo Mandic, Departamento de Medicina, Campinas/SP, Brasil.

Correspondência. Regina Célia de Menezes Succi – Rua Pedro de Toledo, 928, Vila Clementino CEP 04039-003. São Paulo/SP, Brasil. Brasil. Renan Arthur Bosio Guimarães – Graduando –
fussen@europe.com Guilherme de Menezes Succi – Doutor –
guilherme.succi@slmandic.edu.br Victor Angelo Martins Montalli – Doutor –
victor.montalli@slmandic.edu.br Ana Júlia Schmidt Niederauer – Graduanda –
ana_niederauer@hotmail.com Regina Célia de Menezes Succi – Livre Docente –
succi@picture.com.br

Aprovação CEP-Faculdade São Leopoldo Mandic 1.432.856

Declaram não haver conflito de interesse.

Participation of the authors

Renan Arthur Bosio Guimarães performed data collection, participated in its analysis and interpretation and revised the manuscript. Guilherme de Menezes Succi supervised data collection, participated in the interpretation and analysis of the data and revised the manuscript. Ana Júlia Schmidt Niederauer and Victor A Montalli participated in the interpretation and analysis of the data and reviewed the manuscript. Regina Célia de Menezes Succi designed the study, supervised data collection, participated in the interpretation and analysis of the data and wrote the manuscript.

We thank the Regional Council of Medicine of São Paulo, whose Bioethics Center granted a scholarship to Renan Arthur Bosio Guimarães during the year of 2016, intended for projects in the area of Medical Ethics for medical students.

Question	Group	Yes	No	Fisher’s exact test p-value
Because it does not offer a positive result, the research is devoid of value and, therefore, there is no reason to publish it	Physicians	0	30	0.3831
	Students	1	39	0.3831
Research results should be published even if not favorable	Physicians	30	0	1.0
Research results should be published even if not favorable	Students	40	0	1.0
Scientific journals prefer to publish successful attempts and rarely accept work on research with negative results	Physicians	20	10	0.089
	Students	34	6	0.089
In funded research, negative results may disrupt economic interests resulting in non-publication of results	Physicians	26	4	0.157
	Students	39	1	0.157
The publication of negative results in research has been increasing in recent years	Physicians	17	13	0.478
	Students	19	21	0.478
Publishing a negative research result can harm the researcher’s reputation by passing on the idea that the work was poorly planned	Physicians	4	26	0.150
	Students	12	28	0.150
Negative results from a study may indicate that the researchers did not have a sufficiently solid knowledge base to establish a good hypothesis about the subject being tested	Physicians	2	28	0.282
	Students	7	33	0.282
A negative result obtained by a study is not necessarily a “bad result”, but it can demonstrate that the assumption of the research object could be wrong	Physicians	28	2	0.694
	Students	36	4	0.694
The contribution to science and technology is always lower if the result is negative, when compared to research with a positive result.	Physicians	1	29	0.383
	Students	4	36	0.383
Publishing negative results can save resources by avoiding duplicate studies, with unnecessary expense of resources and waste of time	Physicians	22	8	1.0
	Students	30	10	1.0
New techniques or therapies with superior results on older techniques are always published and modify clinical practice	Physicians	20	10	0.162
	Students	23	7	0.162
Na prática, quase nenhum dos resultados negativos são referidos ou publicados	Physicians	17	13	0.810
	Students	24	16	0.810
In practice, almost none of the negative results are reported or published	Physicians	30	0	0.503
	Students	38	2	0.503
Researchers conducting clinical trials involving humans should be responsible for disclosing the results (both to the scientific community and to the research participants), whether positive or negative	Physicians	29	1	0.225
	Students	34	6	0.225

Negative results in scientific research: ethical aspects

Abstract