There is academic research and there is industrial research. In academic research, where the results are public, the work is verified/replicated by competitor research groups. Since competition is fierce, every legitimate attempt is made the competitors to poke holes in the results, for it inevitably could mean more funding for the party that comes up with the best explanation or result. I'm sure many are familiar with the gene cloning fraud case in Korea recently, or the discredited cold fusion work about two decades ago. Yes, one can fake the results for a short while, but rather quickly, you will get caught.
In industrial research, the end goal is to make the end product work in a way that is better (e.g. higher throughput, better quality/capability) and cheaper that what is currently out there, with the final critic being the end use customer. Again, one can't really fake your results, or else in the end, the company's profitability will be affected. What the company will usually do is that it will make attempts to maintain secrecy of or IP protect the approach taken to achieve the results. Folks like Gabriel and Mario seem to be quite out of touch, if not ignorant on how research is conducted and verified in academia and industry. Bottom line is that one does not rely on a scientist's or company's integrity or sincerity, but rather, on the impersonal collective exchange and verification of results to determine what works and what doesn't. Marlon ----- Original Message ---- From: Santosh Helekar <[email protected]> Samir is mistaken. The peer-review process and scientific research have served humanity quite well. They are singularly responsible for all the scientific and technological advancement on which Samir and Gabriel depend for their day to day living and livelihood. The self-regulatory and self-corrective mechanisms that are uniquely built into the nature of science ensure that truth always prevails over falsehood in the long run. Cheers, Santosh --- On Tue, 2/2/10, Samir Kelekar <[email protected]> wrote: > > If the results of your research means > that you will lose a huge amount of funding, how > many researchers will be sincere to their research and > publish their findings sincerely? > > Some may not publish false things, but may remain silent > and not publish contrary > results. > > In many areas, research today is a game that is funded by > big finance. And one requires > very high level of integrity to stick to one's research > findings, and go ahead. > > samir >
