Ethics in Science Education, Research and Governance

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As has been articulated multiple times, Ethics is all about the respect for other person's rights and a responsibility for one's own conduct. This book on Ethics in Science Education, Research and Governance is amongst the first attempts in India, to put together, basic tenets and moral principles, that may guide the behavior and conduct of anyone connected with science, in a responsible manner. This book builds on several scholarly articles and thematic publications on Ethical conduct in Science.

This book evolved out of serious deliberations by several accomplished and acclaimed professionals and media experts with long experience in their professions. It comprises nine chapters dealing with various aspects, covering a broad spectrum of issues in Science and its practice-science education, ethics, outreach, gender issues and Governance.

The Editors are academicians with a total of over 120 years of combined experience in the practice of science. They hope that this compilation will provide minimalistic leitsaetze for the practitioners of Science. They also hope that this book is the first step towards the evolution of a more comprehensive compendium.

The book is being published by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), which is designated by the Government of India to represent it in all international fora. This is a part of INSA's basic vision of nurturing and supporting excellence in science following strict ethical guidelines and is designed to inform lay people, practitioners of science and policy makers about it.

Over the years, the style and practice of science has seen a considerable transformation. The pursuit of Science has moved from an individual's curiosity driven enquiry to an institutionalized system with a subject focus, centralized funding and cadre based career options. This change of structure, has led to competitions in both intellectual and personnel domains and these, in turn have led to an increase in unethical practices. To add to this, developments in biological and pharmaceutical sciences have also led to ethical dilemmas on the use of animals/humans as objects. New development like the artificial intelligence and, the machine learning and use of the internet add altogether new layers to the concerns on ethics.

Increasing number of students and their need for quality education have also resulted in several compromises in the manner in which the admissions to the institutions are made, the manner in which the education is imparted and also the manner in which the examination and evaluations are conducted. At each stage unethical practices abound. In research arena, there are issues of plagiarism, predatory journals, manufacture of data without experiment, ghost or guest authorship to issues of use of money as a surrogate for quality, have all led to erosion of values and ethical standards. Similar issues have arisen in Science Governance and in fair treatment and equal opportunity in respect of gender biases. Ethics, in the manner in which scientific information is shared with the stake holders needs much discussion. All such unethical practices are rooted in the simple desire for short cuts to success and the innate aspiration of the less meritorious to rise higher in one's profession. Truth, which is the goal of Science, stands totally compromised.

The conditions of unethical practices in India are of diverse origins. On the one hand there are cases of willful adoption of unethical practices and on the other hand there are cases of sheer ignorance whereby, for example, many assume that copying from a web source as legitimate. Money and official status also play a major role in such matters.

Indian National Science Academy has been seized of these issues for long and, has expressed opinions whenever serious aberrations in the conduct of a scientist have been observed. An inter-academy (Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Science and Indian Academy of Science) panel also has been formed for this purpose.