Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth

by Stuart Ritchie

It’s currently a requirement at most journals that you disclose at the end of any published paper, in a conflict-of-interest section, any money you’ve received for, say, consulting for a pharmaceutical company.89 But other kinds of financial conflicts aren’t treated the same way. Many scientists, for example, forge lucrative careers based on their scientific results, producing bestselling books and regularly being paid five- or six-figure sums for lectures, business consulting and university commencement addresses.90 People should of course be allowed to pay whatever they like for book deals, speakers and consultants. But when a lucrative career rests on the truth of a certain theory, a scientist gains a new motivation in their day job: to publish only studies that support that theory (or p-hack them until they do). This is a financial conflict of interest like any other and one aggravated by the extra reputational concerns. One could argue that scientists in this situation should, for the sake of transparency, include a conflict-of-interest statement at the end of every relevant future study.91