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When blind leads blind, all blind. arrogance brings out arrogance.
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Earning respect and trust
PHOTO: CAMERON DAVIDSON
Respect for, and trust in, science may be at an all-time low. In the United States, a 2023 Pew Research poll showed that only 57% of the population believed science has had a positive impact on society, and a Gallup poll showed that confidence in higher education was down to 36%. If the Gallup poll were done now, support would likely be even lower, given recent events with university presidents, from questions about their research integrity to their explanations for policies on student speech. I’m frequently asked what can be done about all of this, especially in the realm of science. Many scientists think the challenge has largely to do with science communication, which is certainly important. But first, the scientific community must begin to conduct itself in the same manner that it is asking of the public, and that means treating everyone in the scientific community with respect.
As Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals, I work with a highly skilled staff in scientific publishing. The professional editors are scholars in their fields and intensely dedicated to the goal of a robust scientific record. In addition, the visuals experts produce striking and educational imagery; the social media crew runs widely subscribed accounts; gifted news reporters provide outstanding global coverage; and a sharp communications team spreads the message far and wide. Plenty of scientists recognize the importance of all of this.
But far too often, I see my colleagues at the journals treated disrespectfully by authors, reviewers, and readers who consider running a research lab as somehow more meaningful than anything else in science. This is simply ludicrous. If anything, the challenges that science is experiencing now are not due to a lack of success in the laboratory. They are due to a lack of emphasis on other aspects of science—great teaching; communicating; policy-making; and performing the hard intellectual labor of choosing, from the mass of research, those discoveries that deserve publication in a top journal—and then working with authors to make the findings publishable. The notion that lab work is the only purposeful endeavor in science is obtuse and is an example of precisely what leads to the view that scientists are intellectual elites who do not value the contributions or abilities of anyone except themselves and the small group they deign to recognize as their peers. Every time this academic hauteur is revealed to the public, confidence is lost for a simple reason—scientists like these are not inspiring the people’s trust.
When I was a university administrator, I was frequently visited by graduate students who were in distress after they had informed their adviser that they did not intend to pursue an academic research career. Suddenly, their adviser became less interested in them. I was dismayed by faculty who had apparently forgotten that they worked at a school, where helping students achieve success in the life that they choose is the goal. Academic researchers should be excited for students who want to contribute to scientific publishing, education, policy, and other endeavors where science needs much more help than it does in producing more grants and papers.
Nowhere is this elitism more apparent than in the behavior I sometimes see from academics toward the staff at Science’s journals. Many seem to think that having highly cited work and membership in exclusive academies gives them license to be dismissive of others. This is pure arrogance and ignorance. Professional editors are scientists who are highly capable and trained to handle papers. Too often, an editor’s decisions are attacked as thoughtless output from an underling rather than insightful determinations from a true colleague. I have worked with both excellent academic departments and with outstanding professional editors, and talking science in both environments is equally stimulating and challenging. Furthermore, the people who handle the visual, communication, and technical details do important things that no researcher can. As it turns out, these individuals are not just among the most capable people in scientific publishing, they’re among the most capable people in the enterprise of science.
The way to restore trust in science and higher education is by earning it. Let’s start by recognizing everyone within the scientific community as peers in the scientific quest.
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