Science, democracy and emerging threats to scientific progress

Abstract

Can trustworthy science flourish in countries suffering from dictatorship? This is an increasingly relevant question. Many commercial publishers want to maximise their profits (as is to be expected in a capitalistic system) and are pushing into non-democratic countries with rapid economic growth like China. But how much can we trust the papers coming from countries with dictatorial regimes?. © 2012 Feller; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.