Contrary to popular belief, there is a great difference between the detection of forgery versus the authentication of works of art. Science is generally very good at producing evidence of falsification but often is equally poor at proving authenticity.

The primary reason for these gross differences is that the subjective disciplines of connoisseurship and art history are more strongly involved in the process of authentication than are scientific testing and analysis. There is also a pronounced lack of substantive interaction between art conservation professionnals, scientists, and art historians. ICAI® Inc., has been organized to deal with these deficiencies in scholarship.