Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 17
Ethics
People will work every bit as hard to fool themselves as they will
to fool others.
Robert Park
Voodoo Science
The Piltdown hoax … seriously delayed and distorted the
urgent work of science … Young scientists and old alike wasted
untold thousands of hours on the Piltdown phenomenon …
[
It
]
was nothing short of despicable, an ugly trick played by a warped
and unscrupulous mind on unsuspecting scholars.
John Evangelist Walsh
Unravelling Piltdown
These words hereafter thy tormentors be!
William Shakespeare
Richard II
Science is built on trust. Researchers are expected to be honest, and research is
assumed to have been undertaken ethically. For example, referees assess whether
results are significant but are not expected to investigate whether the reported exper-
iments actually took place, because it is assumed that the authors have not lied about
their work.
The major societies of science have codes of conduct that scientists are expected
to adhere to. Breaches of these codes are regarded as extremely serious; even senior,
respected academics have lost their positions after having been found to commit
misconduct. Familiarity with these codes and their implications for day-to-day work
is essential for a practicing scientist. In brief, the scientific community expects pub-
lished research to be new, objective, and fair; researchers should not present opinion
as fact, distort truths, or imply that previously published results are original; research
should be undertaken within relevant ethical frameworks, which protect privacy and
minimize the risk of harm to individuals; and researchers should not plagiarize others
or misrepresent their contributions to the work. However, there is no international
academic police force, rule of law, or investigative agency. Ethical issues are largely
managed by individual adherence to the
expectations of academic community,
