Sir

The News Feature “Time to wise up?” (Nature 418, 120–121; 2002) concludes, in the light of recent allegations about results from Bell Labs, that physical scientists' organizations are not tackling misconduct.

You quote an excerpt from a statement by the American Physical Society (APS) and comments by an APS spokesperson. These do not provide an accurate picture of APS policy. Our 1987 statement (see http://www.aps.org/statements/87.1.html) comments on why physicists may not have felt a need for a misconduct policy in the past. But you do not mention our 1991 guidelines for professional conduct (see http://www.aps.org/statements/91.8.html), an omission that may give readers the erroneous impression that the APS has never adopted a code of ethics.

The 1991 guidelines cover the types of alleged misconduct now being investigated. They state: “Fabrication of data or selective reporting of data with the intent to mislead or deceive is an egregious departure from the expected norms of scientific conduct.” The spokesperson's comment that the APS “has no specific plans to revise its misconduct policies at this time, but is always alert to making changes in the future” should be read in this context. If events show that these guidelines are incomplete, the APS is prepared to revise its policies or take other appropriate action.