Lessons in empowerment: Transparency


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     EDITORIAL

 2010  Poultry Science  89 :1093–1093
doi:  10.3382/ps.2009-00502 

  Lessons in empowerment: Transparency 

  Colin G.   Scanes , Editor-in-Chief

  A previous editorial addressed the importance of 
honesty (Scanes, 2010). This editorial discusses the is-
sues of transparency. In my opinion, transparency is 
one of the requirements for engendering trust, and trust 
is critical to so much of what we do. 

  A culture of transparency is essential for research. 
The results section of a paper is arguably the most im-
portant section. We expect that the results presented 
fairly summarize the data obtained. It is clearly wrong 
to selectively present data to be included. This is fal-
sification of results and this is scientific misconduct. 
The corollary is that we should not bury data that does 
not fit with our well-established position or working 
hypothesis. Alter the results or there is statistical sig-
nificance. Again, this is falsification of results and sci-
entific misconduct. I encourage authors to place their 
raw data into the journal’s data repository (as a data 
supplement) linked electronically to the paper. 

  A culture of transparency is also important for a 
journal. There needs to be clarity of expectations. For 
instance, what statistics are appropriate to report? An 
area where transparency is not used is with review of 
manuscripts. I firmly believe in the peer-review process: 
reviewers need keep confidential the manuscripts they 

review, and papers are frequently reviewed “blind”; that 
is, not identifying the authors or the institution where 
the research was conducted. I say “frequently” because 
an experienced reviewer can often discern the labora-
tory where the work was done. 

  A culture of transparency is critically important for 
teaching. Students need to understand the expectations 
of the instructor. What metrics will be used? What 
materials will be covered and at what level? How will 
the textbook be used? Most importantly, when will ex-
aminations and tests occur? 

  I would argue for a culture of transparency in a uni-
versity, a company, a government laboratory, and in so-
ciety as a whole. Thomas Jefferson stated that, “When-
ever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted 
with their own government.” I would suggest that this 
be paraphrased to “when people are well-informed, they 
trust their own government.” 

  REFERENCES 
  Scanes ,  C. G.   2010 .  Lessons in empowerment: Honesty is essential 

for trust.    Poult. Sci.    89 : 859 .