On Blacklisting in Science

This letter to the editor focuses on a article that appeared in a special issue of Science and Engineering Ethics in 1999 dealing with scientific misconduct. In this article by James Lubalin and Jennifer Matheson, they discussed the final outcomes of allegations of scientific misconduct. In this letter, the author discusses the ethical problems associated with the blacklisting of scientists, which can occur for a number of reasons including whistleblowing, perceived unethical behavior, or even lesser personal reasons. Because blacklisting usually lacks both due process of law or any sort of code, the punishment can be completely unjustified or out of proportion to the actual or perceived transgression. The author lists the many problems blacklisting presents both to researchers being blacklisted and those doing the blacklisting, and calls for other, more fair, processes for handling misconduct in science.