Dear Daniel, this is a complex issue. I do not think that fraud in science is a modern feature. It has existed along the years - in history. We are much more concerned with fraudulence thanks to the mass media, the information society and globalized issues.

Being as it might be, it is true that scientists sense a sort of attraction towards fraud in some cases. One clear reason is the institutional pressure (by companies, universities, the country, the community, and themselves) to perform better and higher. Science thus is more a mater of prestige and impact than pleasure and delight. Aristotle would have died of a heart attack, nowadays.

I have the feeling that fraud tends to be higher in the natural or basic sciences in general. And well, my own take is that a solution can come from a joint effort to criticize and overcome those pressures from above and the outside. Tis, however, is easier said than done. Most scientists are nowadays only employees. That's a a core problem...

To conjoin with Carlos' comments... money... fear of lacking funding. I'd rather live in a tent than be a false scientist. It would be hard to live with one's inner self after lying scientifically. A huge fraud happened here recently where I work. It hurts everyone here. It has already done its damage. I feel bad for those who do it - because, basically, they are still really good people. It is sad that good people do it. For money.

Dear friends, the odd thing is that out universities have increasingly fostered administrators of all kinds,moreover than professors. Roughly speaking, the number of professors and researchers is lower than the number of administrators. The unbalance can be seen as a sort of hint for the problem.

Are we quite sure that the prevalence of fraud is higher now than it was in the past? Yes, more cases are reported in the media. But of course there are many more scientists today than ever before. And perhaps we are policing ourselves a bit more effectively. It's all very well to idolize the heroic amateur seeker after truth, but how often were these individuals manipulating results to make them conform with their hypotheses or impress their colleagues at the annual conclave?

Experiment-based researches seems more likely to have fraud issues, especially when scientists are using hypothesis-driven approaches. The pressure comes if experiments come out with negative results.

Negative results are so very important to report though as well. Negative results are results always worthy of mention. There are now journals dedicated to the reporting of negative results. These are crucial parts of the entire picture. I think Stephen Joy has a really good series of points above. This is a troubling issue. It is also, perhaps, just one particular shade of the expected spectrum of human behaviors only this time being played out and exposed in the scientific arena. In sports people have secretly taken testosterone or performance enhancers to look like a super-hero. In science, some people choose to fudge the results. These people have to live with themselves afterwards, and hopefully those who practice dishonesty in science don't eventually cost some lives as a result. That would be the worst outcome. The truth is one of those commodities we, as humans, should always try to nurture. Without it, all is lost - including our self-worth as living beings. Brutal honesty in science is an absolute must. The growing disconnect between administrators, PI's and lab workers may foster the unthinkable on occasion it appears, sadly.

High likelihood of academic dishonesty and cybercheats were noted in our past (more than 10 years ago) research with undergraduate students. Download paper from RG here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249680920_CybercheatsIs_Information_and_Communication_Technology_Fuelling_Academic_Dishonesty?ev=prf_pub

These students enter into a very competitive fast result-begging work market and economy. They and others in need or under pressure may not resist the temptation offered by the Internet.

Article CybercheatsIs Information and Communication Technology Fuell...

Frauds exist in every field. Can anything be done about that? By the time one is caught doing something fraudulent, two more would appear in the scene! Can anything be done about that? In Science too, there are frauds, and we can hardly do anything about that.

A)From the time when an academic position is well paid, then a whole industry has been setup in order someone to enter this paradise:

1)the industry of publications

2)the industry of social relations

3)finally the soft treatment of basic scientific requirements

B)Since science is a prestigious tool for i)convincing people ii)promoting business, then any Project that respects itself it has to be supported from "scientific results". I don't want to mention specific examples (because I will be stoned...) but, think by yourselves...

Dear All,

I think the biggest frauds can be found where there are the highest amounts of money. You can decide which scientific fields may be those.

I am sure that the firmness of mind, honesty that is the ethical background of an individual (a scientist) and those of a society or a characteristic group (scientists of a given field) may be determining. It is a question that the ethical rules of which one (the individual, the group or the society) will win.

Another trouble is that scientific cheaters generally were not really punished.

The third trouble is that not the simple soldiers of science commit cheating and fraud. This is an explanation why swindlers have not been called to account for their responsibility.

The main question is how can be somebody a scientist – a man/woman looking for the truth – when he/she is a swindler in other issues.

Fraud committed in former times. The biggest scientific cheaters were alchemists. Some of them were punished very hard. I feel the opportunities of an alchemist were but a joke compared with those of big potatoes of some scientific fields.