Five-year suspension for Iraqi death researcher

US-- Dr Gilbert Burnham, the academic researcher who led a controversial study into civilian deaths in Iraq, has been banned from leading “human research projects” for five years by the university that employs him.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's investigation into Burnham's study found he had violated protocol by collecting names from interview subjects.

Burnham will remain in his position as a professor at the university and as director of its Refugee and Disaster Response Center. The school's director of public affairs, Tim Parsons, told Research that Burnham would still be allowed to write research papers for university projects, but will not be allowed to take part in data collection.

The study in question, published in 2006, claimed that more than 600,000 civilians were killed during and after the allied-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 – three times higher than previous estimates.

The university's investigation did not examine the survey's methodology and statistical approach. Instead, the school said, it expects the scientific community to “debate the best methods for estimating excess mortality in conflict situations” in various forums.

Burnham was earlier criticised by the American Association of Public and Opinion Research for refusing to grant it access to certain information relating to the study – such as the wording of questions and the instructions given to respondents.

The researcher was not a member of the association, however the polling body said it had launched an investigation into his work following complaints by members.

Author: James Verrinder