ABSTRACT
High-profile disclosures of scientific misconduct during the past decade have understandably raised public suspicions about the propriety of researchers' conduct and have fueled skepticism about the scientific community's willingness and ability to police itself. As a consequence, both the federal government and the scientific community have recognized the need to do more to hold scientists accountable for their research practices. Ideally, the scientific community should elicit from its members a higher standard of behavior than that which can be commanded by regulation. The scientific society, as a visible, stable, and enduring institution, acts as a custodian of a discipline's core values and distinct traditions. There is no more important task in dealing with misconduct and promoting integrity in scientific research than developing standards of research conduct. The ethical standards adopted by the scientific societies not only define the boundaries of responsible research conduct, but also embody the virtues that researchers are expected to possess.
