Promising Practices and Innovative Programs in the Responsible Conduct of Research: Proceedings of a Workshop (2023)
Chapter: 8 Concluding Remarks
8
Concluding Remarks
To close the workshop, Casadevall highlighted the vital role that ethical publication processes play in RCR given journals are where scientists and engineers report their work but are also where many of the ethical issues occur, are most visible, and most in need of correction. He then asked the workshop participants to think about how they are going to approach RCR differently after hearing about exemplary programs and creative approaches to RCR. He would like to see more assessment of RCR programs, was intrigued by the possibility of measuring ethicality, and stressed the importance of getting more senior investigators involved in RCR and preventing misconduct.
One takeaway for Casadevall was the imperative to change the negative connotation associated with RCR and instead foster the attitude that it is the key to doing good science. “That has to be baked into all parts of the system,” he stated. Because engineers and scientists are humans, there will be errors, so it is important to have a more robust system for identifying and correcting errors.
To close his remarks, Casadevall argued that science is the best insurance policy for a century in which humanity faces truly existential problems, including climate change, degraded resources, and increased hate and division. Science, he noted, is going to have to work better than it ever has because up to now, science was something humans did, but it was not essential. “But now, with seven billion of us on this planet that is degrading rapidly, we have to make this human enterprise work better than it ever has,” he said. RCR will be an important part of that effort.
This page intentionally left blank.
