Membership in the scientific community, however, does not insure against quackery. Quack scientists also include outright frauds. Fraudulent scientists may use plagiarism, theft of other's ideas, data tampering and other means. Sometimes frauds make claims that, although unsupported at the time, later proved to be true. Roy emphasized that sound and pseudoscience are often difficult to distinguish without careful attention to the details of the research and also to the social relationships surrounding the research.
Most scientists collaborate with their colleagues, rather than working all by themselves.
If their results have implications for other fields outside of their own specialties, they discuss the findings with scientists working in those fields.