Statement on Scientists and Responsible Disclosure
By National Academy of Sciences President Ralph J. Cicerone
March 6, 2015
The methods, motives, and results of scientists come under special scrutiny when societal or economic matters are involved, for example, in cases involving medicine and health, governmental policies and regulations, and commercial applications. Recently, two new examples have arisen, both involving the science of climate change and societal responses to it.
One case involves allegations of failure to disclose financial interests and research support from corporate interests on the part of a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who testifies on behalf of organizations that discount the role of human activity in global climate change. The other consists of requests to seven universities by Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) for the names of funding sources for a group of scientists and policy analysts who have publicly disputed widely accepted scientific findings about the causes of climate change and the value of public responses to it. An earlier Congressman’s request for professional and personal materials should also be remembered.
These incidents and prior ones show that scientists must disclose their sources of financial support to continue to enjoy societal trust and the respect of fellow scientists, while also maintaining high standards in the enterprise of science.
Disclosure of financial information and interests is required when papers are submitted to journals for publication in many fields of science (see, for example, instructions to authors of PNAS papers). Researchers must also submit similar disclosures to responsible administrators at research universities and institutions, as is often required for legislative testimony. Disclosures of sources of research support can also be foreseen for some newspaper opinion pieces.
Failure to file adequate disclosures can be expected to lead to an escalation of demands from interest groups and legislative bodies. Such demands can expand to include largely unrelated documents such as all financial records, e-mails, and draft versions of authored documents, like those requested by Rep. Grijalva. Further, when legal instruments such as public record acts and freedom-of-information acts are stretched beyond their reasonable limits, great costs to institutions and individuals can ensue.
Public universities can be especially vulnerable in this regard. Indeed, in one such climate-related case, the National Academy of Sciences joined an amicus brief on behalf of the University of Virginia to support the university’s case because it had responded to meaningful requests, while declining to satisfy requests for unpublished research data and working papers. NAS’s action was aimed at resisting excessive demands on scientists and public universities, not on the science of climate change.
Full and responsible disclosures to research institutions and to journals by individuals will help the institutions, journals, and individual scientists to do their jobs. They will also address reasonable questions that the public may have about who has funded the science. Such disclosures can help to prevent the further escalation of divisive political actions surrounding any scientific research, whether climate change, genetically engineered crops, or vaccinations against childhood diseases.
