[oneepic]

I may be alone in this, but I think these threats like jailtime for fraudulent research would have the side effect of discouraging researchers that don't even engage in that stuff. I think pulling out the pitchforks is a misguided idea, and it's a shame that it's so common today.

On one hand, these people have a big responsibility to do good work and stay out of trouble for the sake of the ones they're helping (i.e. Alzheimer's patients), but on the other hand their impact depends a lot on their mental/emotional state -- if you put more bs in their mental buffer, it's naturally going to mess with them and lead to a decline in quality. They have to focus.

[therobots927]

Does that same reasoning apply to people who work in finance or accounting?

Distrust in science is at an all time high and these frauds cause incalculable damage to scientific integrity. They are literally poisoning the well of human knowledge. That should be considered a high crime.