Mapping the Scientific Mesolevel: Where Are We Aiming?

Susan Wolf et al.'s article "Filling the Network Gap in Research Ethics: Analyzing Ethical Issues at Scale in Big Team Science" aims to provide analysis of ethics at the level of scientific teams. But is the emphasis on formal teams the appropriate target? In this commentary, I argue that we ought to take a much broader view, looking at the "interstitial spaces" of scientific research, including the informal networks of power and esteem that shape scientific careers, the formation and function of large teams, receipt of funding, and publication. I claim that these informal networks do as much, if not more than, formal organizing efforts in structuring scientific inquiry and norms. I conclude that an ethics of team science will be richer, more rigorous, and more effective if it treats the culture of science as a central object of study and then asks which kinds of formal organizing principles best promote and protect our ethical commitments.