A Psychology Professor Resigns Amid Accusations of Research Fraud at Harvard

A psychology professor recruited by the University of Texas at Austin last year has resigned amid charges that she faked research data at her former institution, Harvard University. Karen M. Ruggiero also asked two journals that published her research about discrimination to retract the articles.

Ms. Ruggiero, an assistant professor who was recruited to Austin in September with a $100,000 startup package for her scholarly work on the attitudes of women and other groups about discrimination, resigned in June, after notifying Texas officials that Harvard was investigating fraud charges against her. Her resignation letter, which Texas officials declined to make public, did not describe the allegations, said Michael Domjan, chairman of the psychology department at Texas.

Ms. Ruggiero could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for Harvard declined to comment.

The journals that published her research, the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, have acknowledged receiving letters from Ms. Ruggiero requesting retractions.

Jerry M. Suls, a professor of psychology at the University of Iowa and editor of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, said he had received three letters, two in June and one last month, from Ms. Ruggiero, asking him to print a retraction for “Why Did I Get a D? The Effects of Social Comparisons on Women’s Attributions to Discrimination,” a paper that appeared in the publication in October.

In the last letter, Mr. Suls said, Ms. Ruggiero had explained that the paper’s data were invalid and that the problem lay with her and not with her three colleagues, “whose sole role was to edit multiple drafts” of her work.

Mr. Suls said he would print a retraction in the bulletin’s September issue.

As for Ms. Ruggiero’s resignation at the University of Texas, the facts surrounding it and “how they are linked to her work at Harvard University are not yet clear,” said Sheldon Ekland-Olson, executive vice president and provost at Texas. “We’re looking into the circumstances of her resignation.” He added that no questions had been raised about her research at Texas.

“She was an excellent teacher,” said Mr. Domjan, the department chairman. “Her students gave her superlative ratings.”

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