Letter: Ethics in science (2)

Psychological science already has a watchdog to investigate complaints against authors for unethical behaviour.

Anyone found by the nat-ional society to have faked data, stolen ideas or otherwise abused readers in a research paper can be expelled or lose recognition of competence to practise psychological research. But there are severe difficulties in establishing or operating an overarching body, as the US National Academy of Sciences has found.

David Booth
University of Birmingham