I think most career-scientists don't fabricate research, they're just very conformists. They have to publish x papers a year in respected journals, so there's n

I think most career-scientists don't fabricate research, they're just very conformists. They have to publish x papers a year in respected journals, so there's not much wiggle-room (in astrophysics, x is roughly 3-10). For a good rant, see "What do astrophysics and the world's oldest profession have in common?" at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0310368 http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0310368 "[Chandrasekhar] used to say, ironically, that the increasing velocity of the paper number is higher than the speed of light, but there is nothing to worry about for there is no violation of any physical law because these papers carry no information." PS: I'm a PhD student in physics.