Discuss: Socially Responsible Science

As Christophe Bernard discussed in his editorial “Doing Socially Responsible Science in the Age of Selfies and Immediacy,” responsible science should go beyond the doing of science. A scientist is part of human society and bears responsibility for the effects their scientific research has on society, especially in an era when the Internet makes research more accessible to the general society and information is moving more quickly.

With science more readily and immediately available to the public, are scientists becoming more socially responsible? Social media helps promote research, and it does so with such speed that it can be both beneficial and harmful. How can we define responsible science in the present state of society?

Bernard posits that there are three main actors that share responsibility in communicating research to general society: the scientist, the journal publisher, and the journalist. Socially responsible science is a complex question where all actors can bear some responsibility. How can we do more socially responsible science? Where does social responsibility start?

Please read the editorial and share your thoughts, ideas, comments in the discussion below.

Leave a comment below.