Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.
Deutsches Zentrum für Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung, Germany.
Soc Stud Sci. 2021 Jun;51(3):414-438. doi: 10.1177/0306312720975201. Epub 2020 Nov 24.
Sanctions for plagiarism, falsification and fabrication in research are primarily symbolic. This paper investigates sanctions for scientific misconduct and their preceding investigation processes as visible and legitimate symbols. Using three different data sources (retraction notices, expert interviews, and a survey of scientists), we show that sanctions for scientific misconduct operate within a cycle of visibility, in which sanctions are highly visible, while investigation and decision-making procedures remain mostly invisible. This corresponds to high levels of acceptance of sanctions in the scientific community, but a low acceptance of the respective authorities. Such a punitiveness in turn exacerbates confidentiality concerns, so that authorities become even more secretive. We argue that punitiveness towards scientific misconduct is driven by such a cycle of invisibility.
科研中的剽窃、伪造和捏造的制裁主要是象征性的。本文研究了科学不端行为的制裁及其先前的调查程序，将其视为可见的和合法的符号。使用三个不同的数据来源（撤稿通知、专家访谈和对科学家的调查），我们表明，科学不端行为的制裁在一个可见性循环中运作，在这个循环中，制裁是高度可见的，而调查和决策程序仍然大多是不可见的。这对应于科学界对制裁的高度认可，但对相关当局的认可程度较低。这种对科学不端行为的严厉性反过来又加剧了保密性问题，使得当局更加保密。我们认为，对科学不端行为的严厉性是由这种不可见性循环驱动的。
