PIXABAY, OPENCLIPARTIt was not until the Supreme Court decided a case concerning marital contraception that the right to privacy became a legally cognizable interest sanctioned by the United States. In 1965, the landmark ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut (381 U.S. 479) held that, when one looks at the Bill of Rights, a natural extension is a right to privacy. Since that decision, courts and governments have sought to define the parameters of this right.
A right-to-privacy concern for scientists might seem minor. After all, much of the scientist’s work has a degree of transparency to the point of actually sharing sufficient data so that others can attempt to replicate research. In the context of a research misconduct proceeding, however, careless attention to this basic right can damage—even ruin—a scientist’s career.
The world of scientific misconduct opens the doors to the dicey prospect of allowing mere allegations to bring harm to the scientist’s career. Anybody—a colleague, journal editor, or reader—can make an accusation of scientific misconduct, which then starts a process dictated by institutional policy (as well as federal regulations, if federal funds are involved in the underlying research).
A number of monumental cases of misconduct several decades ago led ...
