Letter to the Editor
Ethical Behavior in the Sciences Mac Louthan Past President of the International Metallographic Society and founding Editor of the Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention
macfran61louthan@yahoo.com
Dear Dr. Price, I was shocked and saddened by the information contained
in your March 2021 Editorial and totally agree with your con- clusion that “it is incumbent upon all of us to maintain a high ethical compass.” I was fortunate to participate in the Coast Guard Academy’s annual Ethics Forum. Tis forum was part of the Academy’s effort to assure that their graduates performed to very high ethical standards. A keynote talk by an admi- ral concluded with “do what is right, always do what is right.” Unfortunately, my 60-plus years in science, including service as a journal editor, professional society president, and a participant on numerous review panels, have demonstrated that, as you implied, there is a growing trend toward improper image and data manipulation. Te reason for this trend may be that our society has championed a decreasing emphasis on the important difference between right and wrong. I’ll use four examples that illustrate how one inadvertently lowers their ethical standards. Years ago, we were trying to characterize the effect of heat
treatment on the microstructure of an aluminum alloy. I asked a “very good” technician to examine multiple areas and deter- mine the typical microstructure. Te technician replied “tell me what you want to see and I’ll find it.” I think this was an effort to please, and pleasing friends and leaders oſten drives toward compromise. Toward the end of my career, I was on a review panel focused on the future of tritium production in the US, and a company executive pushing for a contract showed their
“typical results” from an extensive test program. When repeat- edly questioned, the executive finally admitted that the “typical result” was the only fully successful result from the test pro- gram. Ethical standards were lowered in hopes of obtaining a large contract and financial gain. On another occasion, a panel instituted to select a major national awardee was requested by a high government official to compromise the selection pro- cess to assure a politically correct awardee was chosen. Finally, just recently, a young engineering graduate with five years of industrial experience went to law school and was shocked to hear a law professor state that a lawyer shouldn’t seek the correct answer but should focus on the answer that best helps the client. Neither the technician, the executive, the govern- ment official, nor the law school professor thought they were compromising their ethics. Tey simply hadn’t considered the personal responsibility to do what is right but had assumed an attitude of convenience and self-help. I sincerely hope that the young people reading your edito-
rial are as appalled as I am. If not, we are entering a trend in sci- ence that is not only disturbing, it is destructive. High ethical standards are the answer to many problems facing our society, and we need to demonstrate adherence to such standards.
Sincerely, Mac Louthan
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2021 September •
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