SCIENCE: How common is scientific misconduct in Nigeria?

Simple methodological factors can make a dramatic difference on the results. One of these factors is how generic the questions in the survey are, and this study used a pre-existing questionnaire with a definition of misconduct that is very very broad. Other major confounding factors in surveys, which are very hard to quantify and rarely are, are the knowledge and awareness that respondents have on these issues, and how much respondents might feel unconsciously pressed to satisfy the expectations of the study itself. . . .

Having said that, this is actually not the only survey to suggest that data fabrication might be unusually high in African countries, and further research could bring some very unsettling surprises.