Diederik Stapel's Social Psychology Fraud

No academic fraud has shaken the social sciences harder than Diederik Stapel's massive data fabrication. Over two decades, the Dutch psychologist invented data for at least 55 published papers—including widely cited studies on social behavior—directly fueling the replication crisis that has since discredited hundreds of findings. An independent investigation found that Stapel systematically manipulated raw data sets, often running no real experiments at all. This level of deceit outperforms #6 Theranos in its sheer scope of academic damage, as it undermined trust in an entire field. More than 15% of Stapel's published papers have been retracted, a rate far higher than the average 2% retraction rate across psychology. His actions cost universities millions in wasted research funding and eroded public confidence in psychological science.