ORGANIZED SCIENCE 305 



endangers all. For all will suffer from the irrationalism and the con- 

 siderations of social, political, and economic expediency that become 

 effecti\^e when even an "enlightened" modern society is drawn into 

 scientific disputes. And so all are disturbed and rallied to vigorous 

 action when, for example, political action seeks to overthrow the 

 judgment and careers of scientists appraising the effectiveness of a 

 battery additive. 



Selection. The main defenders of scientific "good taste" are the 

 editors and referees of scientific journals. It is their office to detect, 

 and reject, incompetent reasoning and experiment; to discourage 

 triviality, irrelevance, and arguments metaphysical and polemical; 

 and to encourage, indeed demand, responsiveness to what seems 

 legitimate criticism. Ultimately the author meets the demands made 

 on him, persuades the editor of the justice with which he ignores 

 some of them, or has his manuscript rejected. In the last event he 

 may submit it to another journal controlled, he thinks, by less "cap- 

 tious" editors and referees. General opinion, however, may well hold 

 that they are not simply less captious but less discriminating, and 

 publication in a secondary journal is unlikely to command wide and 

 immediate attention. 



The author cannot ignore the suggestions of editors and referees. 

 For him publication in a prestige journal is often a necessity. Par- 

 ticularly today, when the conduct of his research may demand huge 

 sums of money, he is driven to seek, through worthy publications, the 

 respect of peers any of whom may be called in as consultants on his 

 applications for support. Quite beyond this, it is only the reputation 

 established by published results that can secure for him a desirable 

 appointment, the award of fellowships or prizes, remunerative con- 

 sultancies, and so forth. Thus all the selective functions operative in 

 the scientific community strongly sensitize the author to "public 

 opinion," as expressed in the dicta of editors and referees. However, 

 it is a mistake to suppose that, through such pressures, the author is 

 forced into submission by external pressures alone. 



As is clearest when we consider the behavior of men whose posi- 

 tions and reputations are already completely secure, authors gen- 

 erally toant to conform with the cultural norm. After all, if one some- 

 how contrives to pass off a shoddy piece of work, any transient 

 advantage to him must inevitably terminate in the open rebuke, 

 administered through others' publications, of experimental values 



