'Scientific Integrity' group suddenly disappears on Facebook

The Facebook group 'Scientific Integrity' with nearly 100,000 members has suddenly disappeared. Currently, the link to the group shows the message 'You cannot view this content at this time'.

Scientific Integrity Group as of March 2023 - Screenshot

The sudden disappearance of the Scientific Integrity group is attracting great attention in the Vietnamese scientific community.

The Scientific Integrity Group has been active for over 4 years.

According to the Management Board of the Scientific Integrity group, on the evening of October 23 (Vietnam time), the Scientific Integrity group suddenly disappeared without the management board receiving any notice or warning from Facebook through any form of communication.

Currently, when accessing the group's address, I only see the default message from Facebook: "You are currently unable to view this content".

Dr. Duong Tu - a researcher at Purdue University (USA), who founded the Scientific Integrity group, said that Facebook likely hid or deleted this group because the group was attacked (reported) on a large scale.

"The administration has contacted Facebook through various channels to find out what caused this and how to restore the group. We have tried to find a way to appeal Facebook's decision but have not found one.

According to information from the Facebook Help Center, some violations may be deemed ineligible for appeal.

This sudden decision by Facebook is puzzling, as the group has been active for more than four years with very few violation warnings," Mr. Tu commented.

The Scientific Integrity group's management board said the group was established on September 1, 2020 as an open forum to discuss diverse topics related to scientific integrity, with the goal of "contributing to building a cleaner and more transparent Vietnamese scientific community".

Since its founding, the group grew rapidly in size from under 5,000 people in its first year to nearly 100,000 members before it disappeared.

Over the past 4 years, the Scientific Integrity Group has become an important and influential forum on scientific integrity, attracting the participation of researchers, scholars, students, and leaders of many domestic and foreign units.

Scientific Integrity Group forum discusses many topics related to scientific integrity - Screenshot

"Group administrators always check information before approving posts"

In response to the opinion that "The Scientific Integrity Group has recently become a place for denunciation, insulting the honor and discrediting scientists", Dr. Duong Tu explained that the Scientific Integrity Group is a forum for discussing many topics related to scientific integrity, mostly focusing on sharing information, disseminating knowledge, and raising awareness of serious and honest scientific activities.

Members regularly introduce free, high-quality courses on writing scientific articles; how to identify predatory, fake journals; how to handle potentially risky situations to avoid integrity violations...

Discussions involving specific researchers account for only a small percentage of the total number of papers, and are not a major focus of the Scientific Integrity group.

Furthermore, discussions in this direction are based on the works and results that researchers have published publicly, not on their personal, private matters.

"In our opinion, once a scientist has published a research work, anyone has the right to discuss and question those public results. Civilized discussion and healthy questioning are always good opportunities for scientists to seriously share and promote their interested works, as well as consult the community to improve the quality of research.

We respect the judgment of some people if they think that the Scientific Integrity group "is a place for fighting and discrediting scientists". However, that judgment would be more valuable if the person making the comment was a serious scientist who had no conflict of interest with the group.

We are not surprised that some people who have been questioned and criticized for their integrity violations have a grudge and seek to accuse, label, and slander the group," said a representative of the group's management board.

"An opportunity to evaluate and review team performance"

According to the group's administrators, all discussions in the Scientific Integrity group are based on public information that anyone can verify. The group's administrators always check information before approving posts.

With thousands of posts and hundreds of thousands of comments, the Scientific Integrity group is a massive repository of information and data, along with a wide range of views and perspectives.

All the knowledge that nearly 100,000 members have contributed, built and accumulated together over a very long period of time is at risk of being completely lost.

"The Board of Directors considers this a valuable opportunity to evaluate and review the group's activities over the past 4 years. We have discussed and agreed to comprehensively and deeply change the organization, model and method of operation so that the Scientific Integrity group becomes more sustainable, professional, effective and rewarding.

Whether we can restore the old group or need to establish a new forum, we will always be steadfast in our goal of contributing to building a cleaner and more transparent Vietnamese scientific community," Mr. Tu added.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhom-liem-chinh-khoa-hoc-bat-ngo-bien-mat-tren-facebook-20241026150654988.htm