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Harassment should count
as scientific misconduct
Scientific integrity needs to apply to how researchers treat people, not just to
how they handle data, says Erika Marín-Spiotta.
I
n the past year, allegations of egregious sexual harassment and even
assault have emerged across the spectrum of science. Nature has
already run several stories on the topic just this quarter.
When I talk to senior scientists, many view harassment as an injustice
that happens somewhere else, not in their field or at their institution.
But data suggest that the problem is ubiquitous. In separate surveys of
tens of thousands of university students across Australia, the United
Kingdom and the United States, upwards of 40% of respondents say
that they have experienced sexual harassment. A survey last year by the
US National Postdoctoral Association found that 28% of respondents
reported experiencing at least one instance of harassment while they
were trainees; offenders were predominantly reported as being faculty
or staff members (go.nature.com/2ju83ox). Neither are faculty members
safe from mistreatment by colleagues.
Research culture and policies are quick to
denounce plagiarism, data fabrication and mis-
management of funds, yet we have too long
ignored the mistreatment of people.
Science is a social endeavour; ignoring
harassment perpetuates a culture in which
people who experience or witness hostile behav-
iours are afraid to speak up, cannot do their best
work, or leave science altogether. Last September,
the American Geophysical Union (AGU) defined
harassment, bullying and discrimination as scien-
tific misconduct, and outlined consequences. The
greater scientific community should do the same.
My colleagues and I are developing a pro-
gramme to reduce harassment in the geosciences
— one of the least diverse scientific disciplines — supported by the US
National Science Foundation (NSF). The project, ADVANCEGeo,
equips bystanders to respond to and prevent harassment in the field,
lab, office and at conferences, and advocates for inclusion of the subject
in courses on ethical research conduct.
Our efforts are part of a growing movement. Just this year, both the
US NSF and the UK Wellcome Trust put forward policies targeting
harassment by grant recipients. Many scientific societies have codes of
conduct that specifically prohibit harassment at meetings, and some,
such as the American Astronomical S ociety and the Geological Soci-
ety of America, address the professional treatment of others in their
general codes of ethics.
Harassment, bullying and discrimination damage science at the
individual, community, institutional and societal levels. The behav-
iours cause health problems, fear, mistrust, depression and trauma.
That results in decreased productivity and the exclusion of people who
might have led highly satisfying scientific careers and made important
contributions.
Less-represented populations are disproportionately affected. A 2017
study in astronomy and planetary science found that women of colour
were more likely than other groups to report skipping professional
events because they felt unsafe (K. B. H. Clancy et al. J. Geophys. Res.
Planets 122, 1610–1623; 2017). In a 2016 sur vey of physicists identifying
as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ), one-third of
respondents reported that they had considered leaving their institutions;
this group was also more likely to have experienced or witnessed hostile
behaviours (see go.nature.com/2wczfih). Other groups are also likely to
be vulnerable, but data are sparse.
Why aren’t the laws already in place against harassment sufficient?
People cannot count on their enforcement, especially given that imbal
-
ances of power in academia favour the perpetrators. Fear of retaliation
also keeps people from reporting to employers in the first place.
Defining harassment as misconduct provides more ways of deter
-
ring it. For example, the AGU has developed processes for investigating
allegations, including for addressing concerns that
might not rise to the level of a formal complaint.
Sanctions might include being barred from meet-
ings or publishing in society journals, or the denial
of an award. To be clear, when talking about har-
assment, I am not referring to socially awkward
interactions but to well-defined and documented
behaviours—such as unwanted groping and
requests for sexual favours—that create a hostile
work environment.
A better sense of how and how often harass-
ment happens in science would help to convince
the community of its pervasiveness, and counter
mistaken beliefs that it is not common in the
workplace. We also need more data on the
experiences of people from under-represented
groups, and on how hostile climates affect efforts to maintain diversity.
We must craft effective interventions. Courses in responsible
research conduct, currently a requirement for trainees, should cover
how to prevent and respond to harassment and bullying. Institu-
tions should offer in-person training, including discipline-specific
scenarios that people can relate to. Departments should commu-
nicate their workplace values publicly. This is starting to happen.
For example, the geosciences department at Middle Tennessee
State University in Murfreesboro has crafted a code of conduct that
describes principles and practices for professional behaviour, adapted
from the AGU’s. Scientific societies have also made plans to offer
bystander-intervention training at their conferences.
Improved ethics training across career levels should draw from
the social and behavioural sciences to lay bare the power dynamics
and behaviours that allow harassment, bullying, racism and sexism
to persist in the sciences. The integrity of the scientific enterprise
demands that we stop tolerating such behaviours. ■
Erika Marín-Spiotta heads the Biogeography and Biogeochemistry
Research Group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA.
e-mail: advancegeopartnership@gmail.com
IMPROVED ETHICS
TRAINING SHOULD
LAY BARE
POWER DYNAMICS
AND BEHAVIOURS
THAT ALLOW
HARASSMENT.
ANN OLSSON
10 MAY 2018 | VOL 557 | NATURE | 141
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