Editing Scientific misconduct (section)

=== Photo manipulation ===<!-- this section is linked from [[peer review]] -->
Compared to other forms of scientific misconduct, image fraud (manipulation of images to distort their meaning) is of particular interest since it can frequently be detected by external parties. In 2006, the ''Journal of Cell Biology'' gained publicity for instituting tests to detect [[photo manipulation]] in papers that were being considered for publication.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24frau.html?_r=1 | work=[[New York Times]] | title=It May Look Authentic; Here's How to Tell It Isn't | author=Nicholas Wade | date=2006-01-24 | access-date=2010-04-01| author-link=Nicholas Wade }}</ref> This was in response to the increased usage of programs such as [[Adobe Photoshop]] by scientists, which facilitate photo manipulation. Since then more publishers, including the [[Nature Publishing Group]], have instituted similar tests and require authors to minimize and specify the extent of photo manipulation when a manuscript is submitted for publication. However, there is little evidence to indicate that such tests are applied rigorously. One ''Nature'' paper published in 2009<ref name="Kato" /> has subsequently been reported to contain around 20 separate instances<ref>{{cite web|author=11jigen |url=http://katolab-imagefraud.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/dna-demethylation-in-hormone-induced.html |title=Shigeaki Kato (the University of Tokyo): DNA demethylation in hormone-induced transcriptional derepression |website=Katolab-imagefraud.blogspot.co.uk |date=2012-01-15 |access-date=2013-08-04}}</ref> of image fraud.

Although the type of manipulation that is allowed can depend greatly on the type of experiment that is presented and also differ from one journal to another, in general the following manipulations are not allowed:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Restrictions of Image Manipulation |url=https://www.amed.go.jp/content/000048624.pdf |access-date=April 22, 2024 |website=AMED}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Editorial Policies |url=https://rupress.org/jcb/pages/editorial-policies#data-integrity |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=rupress.org}}</ref>
* splicing together different images to represent a single experiment
* changing [[brightness]] and [[contrast (vision)|contrast]] of only a part of the image
* any change that conceals information, even when it is considered to be non-specific, which includes:
** changing brightness and contrast to leave only the most intense signal
** using [[clone tool]]s to hide information
* showing only a very small part of the photograph so that additional information is not visible

Image manipulations are typically done on visually repetitive images such as those of [[Blot (biology)|blots]] and microscope images.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ritchie|first=Stuart|date=2021-07-02|title=Why Are Gamers So Much Better Than Scientists at Catching Fraud?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/gamers-are-better-scientists-catching-fraud/619324/|access-date=2021-07-19|website=The Atlantic|language=en}}</ref>