Abstract
Scientific enquiry and the communication of science are essential to achieving development goals. The demand for evidence-based policy poses a challenge to maintaining the ethical conduct of science. The modern scientist faces intense competition in light of the changing nature of collaborative efforts, the quickening pace and increasing complexity of research endeavours and a growing emphasis on commercialisation of research results. Academic performance criteria continually change, becoming more demanding and increasing complex to measure. The integrity of the scientific community is challenged by cases of falsification, fabrication and plagiarism. The mass production of science outputs, evidenced by the incredible rise of predatory journals, poses risks for the veracity of science. Yet, scientists are not the only ones driven by performance targets. Under the constant scrutiny of governing boards, research and development funders—both public and private—are increasingly pressed to demonstrate outputs, outcomes and impact. There is an urgent need for independent research but also a need for consensus with regard to policy guidance. Consensus studies expect scientists to make sense of the available science and find a way of presenting the controversies, contradictions and convergence of evidence to guide policy decisions. Policy consensus dialogues can valorise science guidance. These practices adopt multidisciplinary approaches, bringing top-rated scientists from a variety of disciplines around the table to contribute best practice examples, share experiences and lessons learnt against the background of solid critique of existing research.
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Notes
The famous Piltdown Man scandal had scientists fooled for over 40 years (Radford 2016).
The research record includes data or results that embody the facts resulting from scientific inquiry, and includes, but is not limited to, research proposals, laboratory records, both physical and electronic, progress reports, abstracts, theses, oral presentations, internal reports and journal articles (Eisner and Vasgird n.d.).
Some examples of these practices relate to Jan Hendrik Schön and Robert A. Slutsky (Eisner and Vasgird n.d.). Slutsky was apparently publishing one paper every 10 days for years and including names of many co-authors to mislead editors and cover-up for what later was learned to be a false output (Eisner and Vasgird n.d.; Kennedy 2002).
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Keynote Address: World Science Forum, Budapest, 22nd November 2019.
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Hendriks, S.L. Policy relevance and the ethical conduct of science. BIOLOGIA FUTURA 72, 105–111 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42977-020-00046-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42977-020-00046-0