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Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik has spent years searching for duplicated and manipulated images within scientific papers, scouring for clues as to whether they are genuine errors or deliberate attempts to mislead. Despite online harassment, ranging from intimidation and threats of violence to legal action, her dedication to hunting out scientific fraud has seen her awarded the John Maddox Prize for standing up for science.

In this interview from February 2020, she discusses how she started, why she seeks out image manipulation and duplication, and who her heroes in science are.

So, what do you do?

I scan the biomedical literature for scientific papers with duplicated images. There are several causes of duplicates, ranging from honest errors to sloppy data management or deliberate intention to mislead. If I find papers with image or other concerns, I write to the editors of the journal or to the affiliated institutions.

What鈥檚 wrong with duplicates?

The duplicated images fall into three broad categories. There is the simple duplication, in which the whole photo is inserted twice within the same paper. This type is the most likely to be an honest mistake. The second category is a duplicated photo that has been mirrored, flipped, rotated, shifted or stretched. These duplications are less likely to be errors, and more likely to have been done intentionally. Thirdly, images that contain duplicated cells or bands within the same photo are the most likely to have been manipulated.

Are the duplications hard to spot?

Some images in scientific papers look fine at first glance, but then I start to see duplicated parts, and suddenly I realise that the whole image is photoshopped. Some of these manipulated photos are so elaborate that you wonder why the authors didn鈥檛 just perform the experiment instead.

How did you end up doing this?

I started out looking for papers containing plagiarised text. After a year of doing that, I discovered some papers with duplicated images, and decided to perform a systematic scan of the biomedical literature. This quickly grew into a study with colleagues of over 20,000 papers, with about 4 per cent containing problematic images. We estimate that about half of these duplications are .

鈥淪ome images look fine at first but then I see duplications and suddenly I realise the whole image is photoshopped鈥�

How do people react to you pointing out their mistakes?

When I started in 2014, I was met with a lot of scepticism. Not many people, including journal editors and people at the institutions I wrote to, believed that scientists could be cheating. The majority of papers that I reported in 2014 and 2015 have not been corrected or retracted. But that attitude has been slowly changing.

Did you have to overcome any particular challenges to get where you are today?

Yes. I quit my paid job in industry to be able to do this full time. And not unexpectedly, many authors do not appreciate it when I flag their papers due to duplicated images or other problems.

If you could send a message back to yourself as a kid, what would you say?

Don鈥檛 worry that you are that weird, nerdy kid who wants to become an ornithologist at age 8, although you might end up studying microbes instead.

Is there a discovery or achievement you wish you鈥檇 made yourself?

I have always been intrigued by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren鈥檚 discovery that Helicobacter bacteria cause gastric ulcers. It is such a great illustration of how hard it can be to study microorganisms 鈥� not all of them can be grown easily in the lab. Marshall ended up drinking an H. pylori culture to prove they were right.

If you could have a conversation with any scientist living or dead, who would it be?

Robert Koch, who discovered the Vibrio bacterium that causes cholera. I read one of his papers from the 1800s and it is brilliant. I would also like to hear Rosalind Franklin鈥檚 side of the story about the discovery of the structure of DNA.

Do you have an unexpected hobby, and if so, please will you tell us about it?

I love gardening, such as pruning shrubs or repairing sprinkler installations. I also collect tortoise and turtle figurines.

What鈥檚 the best thing you鈥檝e read or seen in the past 12 months?

Bad Blood, John Carreyrou鈥檚 book about the now-discredited tech firm Theranos. I was headhunted to work there, and I am glad I turned that down.

How useful will your skills be after the apocalypse?

I would be good at detecting zombie clones鈥�