ABSTRACT
The first danger to progress proposed by Popper was a lack of imagination or real interest. Currently, an obsession with number of publications as a criterion for performance evaluation of scientists discourages the imaginative thinking required for quality research. There is an excess of poor quality research being published. Lack of confidence in science leads to greater control, which, in turn, leads to lowering of quality. Examples of misconduct in science are presented. Apart from obvious ones such as alteration of data, fraud, and plagiarism, there are other more subtle forms of misconduct. This includes misallocation of credit such as senior members of research groups taking credit for work carried out by junior researchers. Another danger to progress in science is authoritarianism. In the past, religious authority was used to punish those who questioned the centrality of the earth in the universe. Political authority was used to impose Lysenkoism, a genetic theory that has now been debunked. A new type of authoritarianism has emerged in recent times with the advent of managerialism to place controls on scientific research.
