Abstract
This paper examines two different, but closely related, classes of problems. The first part deals with whistleblowers, and the difficulties and dangers that they have often faced, although their actions, in the rare cases where they become necessary, are indispensable for the maintenance of honest science. The problems are illustrated by discussion of several specific cases from 1960 to 1990.
The second part deals with problems that face many young scientists today, and the stresses to which they are exposed in an increasingly competitive atmosphere. There are powerful pressures for premature publication, and many gifted scientists are driven to spend an inordinate amount of time in writing grant applications that are turned down for lack of funds, while receiving high praise from reviewers. Correction of conditions is an important matter for science policy; it is also important, among other things, to relieve pressures that would tend to encourage deviations from the standards necessary for trustworthy science.
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Edsall, J.T. On the hazards of whistleblowers and on some problems of young biomedical scientists in our time. Sci Eng Ethics 1, 329–340 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02583249
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02583249