Can we create a safe environment for people to report Academic Misconduct?

At the University Level:

I think universities should take action in this and make it easier and safer for students (the weaker group than their advisors) to report academic misconduct. For example, some universities have semi-annual reviews on Ph.D. students research progress and course evaluations on the lecturers. Can we also have similar things to evaluate advisors and the lab environment?

Also, I think we should raise Ph.D. students’ awareness of these issues because a lot of times we Ph.D. students are not used to questioning advisors or the lab environment, but would think we are the ones who should adapt to the environment. Nobody has done a Ph.D. before entering the Ph.D. program (mostly), and we might think this is just the way it is. Sound familiar? I think this is similar to the recent case of George Tyndall’s sex abuse. George Tyndall got away with what he did for over 10 years and nobody had said anything. One of the major reasons is that most victims have never done a women’s health exam before and they thought that’s just how the exam is done. Thus, not only educating Ph.D. students on research skills is important, but educating them on these issues such as academic misconduct is equally important.

At the Conference/Journal Level:

Similarly, can we create a channel for people to safely report this to official organizations (e.g., conference chairs/journal editors)? It might even prevent academic misconduct from happening before the fact. Right now, people are afraid to speak up but it seems these things are hard to hide and it's not that hard to gather evidence, e.g., see "What can ASPLOS do?" section in this article (Potential Organized Fraud in On-Going ASPLOS Reviews).

felicitia / FightingAcademicMisconduct

Can we create a safe environment for people to report Academic Misconduct? #1