The Militarization of Science, and Subsequent Criminalization of Scientists

Science is becoming more challenging, not only for scientists, but also for editors and publishers. Faced with limited funding within an expanding economic crisis, competition between scientists is increasing. The struggle for professional survival is leading some to revert to dishonest tactics to get ahead of the pack and cheating or fraud may be involved. Confronted with these new realities, which have become more debatable within the public arena, mainly as a result of an increase in blogs and social media, editors and publishers are reinforcing current publishing platforms in a bid to reduce the risks and to fortify their journals against future submission- and fraud-related problems. Ultimately, this places greater scrutiny — and stress — on the authorship, leading to an increase in militarization. At some point — which certain hints already indicate — the criminalization of science will begin as publishers fail to curtail fraud.