Editor’s Note: In an effort to provide tomorrow’s scientists with guidance about the responsible conduct of science, the governing council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has prepared a 22-page booklet entitled On Being A Scientist. Scheduled for distribution to some 120,000 graduate students around the country, the new publication discusses a wide range of practical and ethical issues in science, from the allocation of credit and responsibility in collaborative research to upholding the integrity of science itself.
The idea behind the booklet is to give beginning scientists an idea of the day-to-day activities and difficult decisions faced by researchers. “Traditionally,” said NAS president Frank Press in announcing publication of the booklet, “young scientists have learned about the methods and values of scientific research from personal contact with more experienced scientists, and such interactions remain the best way for researchers to absorb what is still a largely tacit cbde ...
