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Date: Tuesday, April 2, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  HHS Press Office (202) 690-6343

ORI CONCLUDES INVESTIGATION AT UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

The federal Office of Research Integrity (ORI) announced today that it found that James H. Abbs, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison had committed scientific misconduct by falsifying and fabricating results of research supported by Public Health Service (PHS) grants and reported in "Orofacial Motor Control Impairment in Parkinson's Disease," Neurology 37:394-398 (1987).

ORI conducted an extensive scientific examination of the records that Dr. Abbs provided for this research, using specialized forensic and statistical techniques developed by ORI staff. ORI found that Dr. Abbs falsified Figure 1 in the paper, by tracing and then altering a figure showing actual results from a Parkinson's patient that was published in a prior scientific paper in 1983. ORI also found that Dr. Abbs falsified and fabricated the data displayed in Figures 2 and 4 of the Neurology paper and made other misrepresentations about the methodology used in the paper and in his explanations during the university's inquiry and ORI's investigation.

This finding concludes an ORI investigation that was begun by the former Office of Scientific Integrity in 1989 and suspended while Dr. Abbs and the University of Wisconsin challenged the department's scientific misconduct procedures in federal court. That case against the department was ultimately dismissed on procedural grounds. Dr. Abbs did not admit any liability or wrongdoing but he agreed to a voluntary settlement of ORI findings of scientific misconduct and the following administrative actions:

  1. Exclusion from service in any advisory capacity to PHS for a period of three years;
  2. Submission to supervision for PHS-supported research for a period of three years;
  3. Institutional certification of data for PHS-supported research for a period of three years; and,
  4. Submission of a letter to Neurology forwarding ORI's investigation report and request for retraction of the article.
As part of the settlement, Dr. Abbs will submit a letter to ORI in which he addresses each of ORI's findings and explains in more detail the reasons for his decision to settle this matter on these terms.

ORI acknowledges the University of Wisconsin's assistance and cooperation in bringing this matter to conclusion.