The Advancement of Knowledge amidst Exit, Voice and Silence Responses to Scientific Intimidation

The production of knowledge in the Anthropocene is limited by the range of matters that are researched, public discussion of the outcomes of that research, and perceptions of the relevance of expertise in the public understanding of that research. All of these can be influenced by the intimidation of scientists and the extent to which this leads to them changing their focus and diminishing or expanding their voice. This paper reports on a global study of over 2000 scientists, investigating the forms that intimidation of scientists took, the extent to which the sources of intimidation were internal or external to the organisation, the perceived motivations for intimidations, the effects on scientific inquiry, voice, silence and exit, and the factors that shaped those responses. It also reports on analysis of participants’ perceptions of the concept of ‘expertise’. Amongst other findings, personal harassment was gendered, but other forms of intimidation did not appear to be strongly so. Intimidation often saw scientists exiting their research field, their job or the sector, and reducing the frequency with which they would speak about their research. Yet for many the effect was the reverse, and so the overall proportion who spoke more about their research after the most serious incident, 20%, was almost as high as the proportion who spoke about it less, 23%. Two factors appeared to be critical in determining whether scientists spoke more, or less, about their research after the incident. One was the impact the incident had on self-confidence. The other was the role of organisational senior management in supporting the target or promoting a supportive culture of independent research. We also show how the effects of intimidation are not just individualised; they can actually damage the dissemination of information that would benefit society as a whole.