It's always good in research project to have a mutlitidisplinary filed, background in social seience it's very usful

If I were a professor, I would insure reasonable capability to accomplish project before including my name. But at this stage, it is up to research team to get themselves read up on social science techniques, background, etc., or acquire help. The expectation of funding the project may be you are a professor, and there would be understanding that you would not be applying for funds beyond your expertise, or research team's expertise. Most grants could be modified to include another researcher with this specialty, but the success or failure may depend on the lead scientist decision to acquire help or assign team work to acquire the expertise to make research acceptable. If I felt named or acquired research team is unlikely to or unable to produce acceptable results, I would probably look into undesireable process of declining funding or see if proposal could be modified to something more acceptable. In some circles, this may a kiss of death as far as declining funds and accepting defeat, that would have to be overcome in the future. If you and/or team have real interest in expanding expertise into social sciences, it's time to hit the books, library or internet research on social science, collaborate as needed, consult with social scientists as needed, and get up to the challenge.

It depends on their expertise. An expert in statistics and how to analyze "soft data" could be very useful in many "social science" studies, for example.

Yes you should have people who know the field and those in adjacent fields. Is the question about SOIL or SOCIAL or BOTH?

The topic of "ethics" goes beyond "social sciences". If you are getting into professional ethics, then the profession-specific sources should be considered.

s. Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist thank you for involving in the discussion. It's not about soil science nor social science, but it's all about the practices that are going on while practicing science. For getting funding or opportunities, people become expert in another field when they have no previous academic background.

People are from many backgrounds, and have varied experience but sometimes If you are interested in working current international project with good donor or funding or opportunities, people tend to become an expert in entirely different field where they don"t have any earlier academic background.its more like grabbing opportunities when its knocking .

Humayun Kabir, I think in science there is no restriction to do the research in any discipline. However, the donor agency always looks for the expert in the relevant field for funding. This is something like that a physicist/Chemist has all right to write literature, poem, drama etc. (Like our famous Dr. Humayun Ahmed).

Ujjal Kumar Nath Ujjal Kumar Nath thank you, Sir. I do also believe your concern but to be a writer like Dr. Humayun Ahmed and to be a Scientist like Einstein is not the same thing. Sir, if I want to research genetics and plant breeding then I can do it, I agree with you. But in that case, I have to consult with you and invite you for project development and execution jointly. Moreover, the question of quality remains the main issue! That's why we introduce the concept of interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and so on. But nowadays, what I observe- people are researching different field without considering some other colleagues who have expertise on the taken issue (s). Thank you, Sir, and hope to see you soon.

Humayun you are always wel come in GPB. It is perhaps good to do something in collaboration with multidisciplinary way, but it is always not Mandatory to have. The critical example may be the Watson & Crick and Madam Merry Curie. First two persons one from Physics and another from Physician but got Nobel prize in Chemistry for DNA double helix model. The latter lady won Nobel prizes from both physics and chemistry. If any boundary of the science then they had no opportunities to become such renown.

Ujjal Kumar Nath I do agree sir, thank you for your opinion.

Thats a very nice issue you have raised, Sir. I do feel now, research has no boundaries if you want to expand your knowledge. But most of the time researchers likes to stick to their main strong area for research and build a multidisciplinary team to address multiple issues in a project. But someone done some extensive job in reading the field he or she is applying, I think its not a big issue. Expertise is something thats hard to define. But if the output is not satisfactory then its about ethics that I dont know something and still applied for the field and didnt able to conduct it properly. Its better to have team to work on now from different discipline, as research is now more adaptive than diagonistic.

Regards

This really does depend on the level of social research experience needed. A soil scientist may omit some essential considerations when dealing with social issues. Each field has certain methodologies that may not be common to someone that has not studied that particular science. This may reduce the quality of the research. Some things can however be done by anyone. If you decide to omit a social scientist you will have to read up. Some people may still not be confident with reading and so in this case you will need to include a social science expert. However if the social research involved is detailed then you will without need a social scientist.

Matema Imakumbili thank you for your thought

Ethics, for some "scholars", are the last things which they may take into account upon planning a research project, conducting it, and publishing the results of it.

Since the final destination is publication in a certain journal "with high IF !" , then it becomes the duty of the journal to look into "the ethical dimension" of the submitted paper besides the "scientific matter".

I lost count of how many times I saw lies in the names of authors who have nothing to do with published papers that write down their names for "unscientific" or "unethical" reasons.

Some "powerful" scholars will allow for themselves what they do not allow for others in a way that can be depicted as "double standards". Such standards are unethical by any "moral" code of conduct.

Ethics are very important.