Grants, journals & progress? Marc Hauser (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, December 27, 2011, 00:17 (4716 days ago) @ David Turell

In this article about Hauser there are comments describing the government-science complex. Eisenhauer in his fairwell speech warned against the government-military complex, shades of which overhang Iraq. The warnings are about money, ego, and youthful eagerness, but I think especially the money.

This quote from the article is the key: (my italics)

'Science is driven by two powerful motivations—to discover the “truth,” while acknowledging how fleeting it can be, and to achieve recognition through publication in prominent journals, through grant support to continue and expand research, and through promotion, prizes and memberships in prestigious scientific societies. The search for scientific truth may be seriously derailed by the desire for recognition, which may result in scientific misconduct.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the main sources of research funds in the United States, have defined scientific misconduct in research as involving fabrication, falsification or plagiarism. “Fabrication” is making up data; “falsification” is altering or selecting data. This definition of misconduct has been adopted by other federal agencies and most scientific societies and research institutions. Explicitly excluded from the category of scientific misconduct are “honest error or differences of opinion”; other types of misconduct, such as sexual harassment, animal abuse and misuse of grant funds, are targeted by other prevention and enforcement mechanisms.'

http://www.thenation.com/article/165313/disgrace-marc-hauser?page=full