Systems fail people: dry labbing as a distinct category of scientific fraud
Article
Houck, MM. (2026). Systems fail people: dry labbing as a distinct category of scientific fraud
. SCIENCE & JUSTICE, 66(5), 10.1016/j.scijus.2026.101491
Houck, MM. (2026). Systems fail people: dry labbing as a distinct category of scientific fraud
. SCIENCE & JUSTICE, 66(5), 10.1016/j.scijus.2026.101491
Dry labbing, fabricating scientific results for unconducted tests, lacks formal academic study. This paper systematically examines it as a distinct category of scientific fraud through five major cases. It defines dry labbing as fabrication, not falsification, impacting detection and legal remedies. Within the Onwubiko fraud matrix, it reveals a non-financial, reputational motivation that the Cressey fraud triangle fails to capture, often driven by institutional productivity metrics. The study identifies a pattern of actors exploiting permissive supervisory structures in an infrastructure lacking meaningful accreditation, independent verification, and early error detection. Challenging the “systems fail, people don't” formulation, it proposes that systems fail both victims and actors. Six policy reforms are recommended: credential verification, accreditation redesign, random confirmation testing, reformed productivity metrics, independence from law enforcement, and centralized error reporting. The persistent reproduction of this fraud underscores the enduring institutional conditions that permit dry labbing.
