SCIENTISTS 



Michael Faraday said that in the most successful instances less 

 than one in ten of the hopes and preliminary conclusions are 

 realised. When one is depressed, some cold comfort might be 

 derived from the experience of those two great scientists. It is well 

 for the young scientist to realise early that the fruits of research 

 are not easily won and that if he is to succeed he will need 

 endurance and courage. 



The ethics of research 



There are certain ethical considerations which are generally 

 recognised among scientists. One of the most important is that, 

 in reporting an investigation, the author is under an obligation 

 to give due credit to previous work which he has drawn upon and 

 to anyone who has assisted materially in the investigation. This 

 elementary unwritten rule is not always followed as scrupulously 

 as it should be and offenders ought to realise that increased credit 

 in the eyes of the less informed readers is more than offset by the 

 opprobrium accorded them by the few who know and whose 

 opinion really matters. A common minor infringement that one 

 hears is someone quoting another's ideas in conversation as though 

 they were his own. 



A serious scientific sin is to steal someone's ideas or preliminary 

 results given in the course of conversation and to work on them 

 and report them without obtaining permission to do so. This is 

 rightly regarded as little better than common thieving and I have 

 heard a repeated offender referred to as a " scientific bandit ". 

 He who transgresses in this way is not likely to be trusted again. 

 Another improper practice which unfortunately is not as rare 

 as one might expect, is for a director of research to annex most 

 of the credit for work which he has only supervised by publishing 

 it under joint authorship with his own name first. The author 

 whose name is placed first is referred to as the senior author, 

 but senior in this phrase means the person who was responsible 

 for most of the work, and not he who is senior by virtue of the 

 post he holds. Most directors are more interested in encouraging 

 their junior workers than in getting credit themselves. I do not 

 wish to infer that in cases where the superior officer has played 

 a real part in the work he should withhold his name altogether, 



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