Abstract
This paper examines the role of codes of conduct in relation to participation and scientific prestige in India’s three academies of science between 1970 and 2000. This period was one of increasing political and structural change for the Indian scientific state and the academies. Through archival material from the three academies and interviews with its fellows, this paper argues that science academies were mainly organized and run through informal codes of conduct regarding who could become fellows/members of the science academies, and how. The careful utilization of informal codes was done to build and maintain the scientific prestige of these academies and the small cluster of individuals who ran them. By examining three elements of participation in the academies—fellowship, membership, and the removal of fellowship—the paper shows that engagement in them by individuals in the scientific community was tempered by the utilization of informal codes, rather than formal ones, with the intention of cultivating and maintaining scientific prestige.