Abstract Over the last 50 years, we argue that incentives for academic scientists have become increasingly perverse in terms of competition for research funding, development of quantitative metrics to measure performance, and a changing business model for higher education itself. Furthermore, decreased discretionary funding at the federal and state level is creating a hypercompetitive environment between government agencies (e.g., EPA, NIH, CDC), for scientists in these agencies, and for academics seeking funding from all sources—the combination of perverse incentives and decreased funding increases pressures that can lead to unethical behavior. If a critical mass of scientists become untrustworthy, a tipping point is possible in which the scientific enterprise itself becomes inherently corrupt and public trust is lost, risking a new dark age with devastating consequences to humanity. Academia and federal agencies should better support science as a public good, and incentivize altruistic and ethical outcomes, while de-emphasizing output.

中文翻译：

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21 世纪的学术研究：在不当激励和过度竞争的环境中保持科学诚信


摘要 在过去的 50 年里，我们认为，在研究经费的竞争、衡量绩效的定量指标的制定以及高等教育本身商业模式的变化等方面，对学术科学家的激励变得越来越不正当。此外，联邦和州一级可自由支配资金的减少正在为政府机构（例如 EPA、NIH、CDC）、这些机构的科学家以及从各种来源寻求资金的学者创造一个过度竞争的环境——不正当的激励措施和资金减少会增加压力，从而导致不道德行为。如果有一定数量的科学家变得不值得信任，那么科学事业本身就会变得腐败，公众就会失去信任，从而面临一个对人类造成毁灭性后果的新黑暗时代的转折点。学术界和联邦机构应该更好地支持科学作为公共利益，并激励利他和道德成果，同时不再强调产出。