My plea for academic decency remains unchanged: a response to Lior Pachter.

Abstract

Lior Pachter's response to my Editorial (Warrant in J Comp Physiol A https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-025-01745-6 , 2025)-which details the recent public attacks on the integrity of Australian neuroethologist Mandyam Srinivasan-does little more than accuse me of writing a long series of ad hominem attacks against him and Laura Luebbert. I find this accusation very difficult to reconcile with what I actually wrote, and I leave it to the readers of my Editorial to decide for themselves whether I am guilty of this or not. Regardless of this, Pachter fails to address, or refute, the reason I wrote my Editorial in the first place-namely, to decry the manner in which he and Luebbert raised their concerns about Srinivasan's work. Thus, the conclusion of my Editorial remains unaltered-Luebbert's and Pachter's unjust public assassination of Srinivasan's reputation falls vastly short of the standards of academic decency expected of a respectful scientific discourse between peers.