Ethics in astronomy. Markus Wi2kowski

Transcription

1 Ethics in astronomy Markus Wi2kowski

2 Ethics First systema6cally defined by Aristotle as a separate philosophical field. Part of prac6cal philosophy, including ethics, economy, poli6cs. The subject of ethics is moral human ac6ng and reasoning, i.e. what makes ac6ng a morally good ac6ng? The procedure is systema6c, results should be jus6fied and intersubjec6ve Not moralizing, not influenced by ideologies

3 Categories: descrip6ve / norma6ve Descrip6ve: which ac6ng is common in a group or a society, which ac6ng is generally accepted as moral ac6ng? Who is widely accepted as a moral exemplar, how does this person act? Norma6ve: Prescrip6ve. SeOng up of rules. How shall ac6ng be? Higher risk to be subjec6ve, influenced by a certain ideology. Criteria need to be jus6fiable, verifiable, need possibility to ques6on them It is not self- evident that there is any generally accepted norm. Goodwill is required.

4 Categories: descrip6ve / norma6ve Descrip(ve: which ac6ng is common in a group or a society, which ac6ng is generally accepted as moral ac6ng? Who is widely accepted as a moral exemplar, how does this person act? Norma6ve: Prescrip6ve. SeOng up of rules. How shall ac6ng be? Higher risk to be subjec6ve, influenced by a certain ideology. Criteria need to be jus6fiable, verifiable, need possibility to ques6on them It is not self- evident that there is any generally accepted norm. Goodwill is required.

5 Professional ethics Different professions have certain cultures, code of conduct, best prac6ces Responsibility for the society Reputa6on of the profession Certain values within the profession In par6cular, research ethics reflects the moral grounds on which researchers do research, and their internal and external responsibility

6 Astronomy The oldest natural science Very important for socie6es throughout human evolu6on by providing informa6on on 6me, calendars, seasons, our place in the universe, etc.; Nowadays climate change (greenhouse effect), asteroid impact avoidance, exo- planets/exo- life For a long 6me there was a close connec6on between astronomy, religion, art, magic (e.g. Stonehenge) Modern astronomy is decoupled from such fields. Also people nowadays are more disconnected from the sky due to light pollu6on, spending most 6me in big ci6es and buildings, and modern jobs are disconnected from nature. There is s6ll a big public interest in astronomy. Object of interest is observed, not created/manipulated

7 Astronomers/Working areas Universi6es, research centers, observatories Work part of their 6me on research Have other du6es, e.g. teaching, instrument building, opera6ons & support Serve as referees for papers, on 6me alloca6on commi2ees, grant panels, selec6on commi2ees, mentors, write recommenda6on le2ers, some have managerial du6es as employers, etc

8 Which are, in your opinion, the most important 2-3 values for the professional work of an astronomer?

9 Results (card technique), in approximate order of men6onings Honesty/ Objec6vity/ Integrity Create new ideas for the community/ Provide knowledge to the public Open- minded/ Crea6vity Collabora6on Cri6cal thinking Neutrality/Fairness Respect Acknowledge help & sources Reliability Persistence Empathy in outreach & teaching

10 Small Poll from 2009 Honesty. Respect the truth and publish full results. Transparency. Communicate to the public/be honest with the public. Respect intellectual property. Respect ideas/ follow scien6fic method. Flexibility/the ability to change one s ideas. Imagina6on. Openness. Knowledge. Apprecia6ng others. Ability to work with others. Trying to treat colleagues and their work as oneself would want to be treated. Keep good tempered when very 6red. Help the young where you can.

11 European Commission/ Ethics for researchers (FP 7) Legal basis: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Ar6cle 13: The arts and scien6fic research shall be free of constraint. Academic freedom shall be respected We have to act responsibly with this freedom, both internally and externally. In par6cular, we need to respect: Art. 3: Right to the integrity of the person. Art. 7: Respect for private and family life Art. 8: Protec6on of personal data Work environment/ internal rules

12 EC: Ethics for Researchers (FP 7) Data Protec6on and Privacy (health informa6on, gene6c informa6on, criminal records, financial informa6on, travel records, informa6on on religious beliefs and sexual orienta6on or ethnic iden6fica6on records) Informed consent (adequate informa6on, voluntariness, competence) Research on human embryo s and foetuses Dual use (research that could be misused for criminal or terrorist purposes) Animal research Research involving developing countries (beneficial to all stakeholders, comply with relevant European legisla6on, na6onal legisla6on and with the relevant accepted interna6onal standards; if local resources are used, this should be adequately compensated, poten6ally vulnerable popula6ons need to be able to provide genuine informed consent, relevant local and independent ethic approvals need to be provided)

13 EC: Charter for researchers Research freedom; limita6ons to this freedom Ethical principles (recognized ethical prac6ces) Professional responsibility (relevant to society and does not duplicate research) Professional aotude (research environment, funding mechanisms, approvals) Contractual and legal obliga6ons Accountability (toward employer, funders, society) Good prac6ce in research (safe, legisla6on) Dissemina6on, exploita6on of results (research is fruijul, results exploited commercially, or made accessible to the public) Public engagement (can be understood by non- specialists) Rela6on with supervisors Supervision and managerial du6es (supervisors, mentors, career advisors, leaders, project coordinators, managers, science communicstors) Con6nuing professional development

14 EC: Requirements for Employers Recogni6on of the profession Non- discrimina6on Research environment Working condi6ons Stability and permanence of employment Funding and salaries Gender balance Career development Value of mobility Access to research training and con6nuous development Access to career advice Intellectual property rights Co- authorship Supervision Teaching Evalua6on/appraisal systems Complaints/appeals Par6cipa6on in decision- making bodies Recruitment

15 EC: Recruitment of researchers Selec6on Transparency Judging merit Varia6ons in the chronological order of CVs Recogni6on of mobility experience Recogni6on of qualifica6ons Seniority Postdoctoral appointments

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17 Which are, in your opinion, ethical issues that typically occur in the professional life of an astronomer?

18 Results (brainstorming) Selec6on of data Intrinsic biases in panels/ peer- review processes Hierarchical problems Not acknowledging work of others Stealing of ideas Referee process Conflicts of interest Publishing of results that are known to be wrong Not publishing nega6ve results Copying mainstream ideas without cri6cal thinking Plagiarism Not giving back to society Conferences in exo6c/remote loca6ons Authorlists Abuse of power Lack of cultural or environmental apprecia6on

19 Small poll from 2009 Providing and being given proper credit, especially to students. Data manipula6on (inten6onally or uninten6onally) Manipula6on of cita6ons Abusing a referee process/use of confiden6al informa6on Abusing hierarchical or mentoring structure Building observatories at culturally or ecologically sensi6ve places, or in poor countries Following expensive projects that are risky and might not give results Not improving the quality of people s lifes in the short & medium term Balancing work & home life Fair shared of publica6ons/autorlist and fair access to data Compe66on within the team for the best data or the best students Marginalizing researchers that are lem out of big collabora6ons

20 Ethical standards in astronomy by Paul Kalas (Decadal Survey), 2009 Authorship and publica6ons (plagiarism, falsifica6on, and fabrica6on; publica6ons are a key metric for scien6fic success) Data and the research record (failure to retain research data, refusing reasonable access to research data, misrepresen6ng specula6ons as fact or releasing preliminary research results without sufficient data to allow cri6cal review, selec6ng and repor6ng data to improve the appearance of data or to increase its significance, suppressing nega6ve data) Environmental ethics

21 Professional and ethical standards for the AAS journals Ethics Plagiarism and republica6on A2ribu6on and cita6on prac6ce Conflicts of interest Confiden6ality guidelines Professional conduct and civility Inves6ga6on of misconduct allega6ons

22 The A&A policy concerning plagiarism and improper a2ribu6on Plagiarism: reproducing text or other content from work wri2en by others without giving proper credit to the source of that content (also paraphrasing text) Self- plagiarism (when authors cite text from their own previously published works) Must cite the original reference and include text in quota6on marks. Figures may only be reproduced with permission and must be cited in the figure cap6on. A brief discussion of previous results is usually more relevant than direct quota6on Should cite previously published papers that are directly relevant Improper a2ribu6on: Deliberate refusal to cite prior, corrobora6ng, or contradictory results

23 Summary/ Discussion Based on today s ques6ons & answers, we do agree on common values in astronomy and on common moral problems in our field We are tempted to unethical behavior in our everyday life, especially in gray areas, and need to be aware of it It helps to discuss with others when we encounter situa6ons that we feel are morally problema6c

24 References Das Europäische Parlament 2000: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Europeanm Union, Official Journal of the European Communi6es (2000/C 364/01) European Commission 2005: EUR The European Charter for Researchers. The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publica6ons of the European Communi6es 2005, ISBN European Commission 2013: Ethics for Researchers Facilita6ng Reasearch Excellence in FP7, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publica6ons of the European Communi6es 2013, ISBN Kalas, Paul 2009, University of California, BerkeleyEthical standards for astronomy, Decadal Survey Professional and ethical standards for the AAS journals, ApJS, 167, (2006) A&A, Ethical issues: Pieper, A. 2007: Einführung in die Ethik, A. Fracke Verlag Tübingen und Basel (6. Auflage, 2007), ISBN

25 Further reading Nature s guide for mentors (2007), Nature 447, 14 Bullock, M. A. 2005: Astronomy and Ethics, h2p:// astro_ethics.pdf Paul Kalas, Astronomy Ethics Course, University of Berkeley, h2p://w.astro.berkeley.edu/~kalas/ethics/index.html Leslie J. Sage 2012, In Organiza6ons, People and Strategies in Astronomy I (OPSA I), (Ed. A. Heck), (also other ar6cles from this volume) Petersen, A. M. et al A quan6ta6ve perspec6ve on ethics in large team science, arxiv: