La fraude scientifique

Abstract

The Scientific Misconduct Fraud in science is a very marginal phenomenon. Yet, in each case, there is a great deal of commentary. The most recent occurrence, called the Schon affair after the name of the researcher involved, was no exception to the rule. It certainly involved the elements that constitute the ideal case of fraud: a prestigious laboratory, the Bell Laboratories, a subject in the front of research in microelectronics and some prestigious reviews as Science and Nature. Faced with these cases, one can investigate the flaws of a system – conceived by scientists themselves – intended to evaluate scientific work submitted for publication. Fraud, such as hoaxes and plagiarism, proves that there is no such thing as a system without flaws. Yet more important was the calling into question of the scientific community’s dominant image as a social group which gives itself tacit rules of operation. Hence, the demand made by researchers themselves – under the pressure of public opinion – to clarify these norms, in other words to write them down in a kind of researcher’s code of conduct. Briefly, the Republic of scientists writes its own code of conduct.