Ethics and the Responsible Conduct of Research in the Chemical Community: The Unique Role and Challenges of the News Media

Abstract

Journalists who cover scientific research, including chemistry research, have an obligation to report on alleged cases of research misconduct when knowledge of these surface. New Government definitions of research misconduct, beginning in the late 1990s with the Clinton Administration, have helped scientists, policymakers, as well as journalists sort out and make sense of alleged research misconduct. Journalistic reporting on research misconduct includes many challenges: gathering information from sources who are intimidated or afraid to speak, strict adherence to journalist ethics that take on a new dimension when careers, reputations, and research funding are at stake; efforts by government and institutional bureaucrats to dampen or thwart legitimate news coverage. The Internet, blogging, and social media have added still more complexity and ethical quandaries to this blend. The author, News Editor of Chemical & Engineering News published by the American Chemical Society, provides examples from his own career and that of colleagues. He suggests that an enhanced spirit of understanding and cooperation between journalists and members of the scientific community can lead to avenues of open discussion of research misconduct—discussions that might prevent and mitigate the very real damage caused by bad actors in science who betray themselves, their peers, and the body of modern day scientific knowledge when they make the decision to march into the darkness of dishonesty, plagiarism, or falsification.

Keywords:

• American Chemical Society
• Chemical & Engineering News
• chemistry
• ethics
• journalism
• media
• responsible conduct of research
• transparency

Notes

1. Where the author has expressed views and opinions, these are his own and not necessarily those of C&EN or the American Chemical Society.

2. Intentionally failing to cite literature that disagrees with the logic and/or conclusions of a research report is an example of falsification and may be misconduct of research.

3. Chemical & Engineering News is published 50 times each year and distributed to over 160,000 members of the American Chemical Society as well as thousands of other readers, libraries, and institutions worldwide.