From science communication to systemic public deception: The case of the ITER big science project

This commentary reviews conflicts of interest which science mediators may encounter in their professional activities within the field of public communication of science and technology. The case of the ITER project (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) illuminates how political decisions, public affairs, management pressures and scientific misconduct may undermine communication and the course of public scientific research. Although some of these issues specifically stem from the fact that the ITER project supports a 'political technology', they broadly reflect, perhaps in a caricatural mode, pathologies from which most research organisations and public science projects may suffer. Clearly, these problems have implications that go well beyond science communication. Scientific research today is carried out in organisations which have policy-related, strategic and even political objectives. Furthermore, science and technology are today highly competitive fields, inching increasingly closer to business and politics. This situation may encourage managers to act in a way that is far removed from the level of integrity we have come to expect in the scientific world. Therefore, professional integrity - not just scientific integrity - must be explicitly covered by employee contracts, and staff regulations and codes of conduct of scientific organisations and public research projects are needed to protect the integrity of science as a whole.