Dec 31, 2015 06:43 AM
Suspect Science: The Top 5 Retracted Papers of 2015
http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-science-to...18420.html
EXCERPT: [...] Among the more than 2,000 retracted life science papers that researchers reviewed in this study, only about 20 percent were retracted because of honest errors. A whopping 70 percent were pulled as a result of scientific misconduct — that is, lying, cheating and/or stealing. A retraction implies that the paper is flawed, that it should never have been published and that the presented results shouldn't be considered trustworthy. Unfortunately, while you can scrub a paper from a journal, you can't always erase it from public consciousness.....
"Perhaps half [of medical literature] may simply be untrue"
http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/l...0696-1.pdf
EXCERPT: The case against [medical research] science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. As one participant put it, “poor methods get results”. The Academy of Medical Sciences, Medical Research Council, and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have now put their reputational weight behind an investigation into these questionable research practices. The apparent endemicity of bad research behaviour is alarming. In their quest for telling a compelling story, scientists too often sculpt data to fit their preferred theory of the world. Or they retrofit hypotheses to fit their data. Journal editors deserve their fair share of criticism too....
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"The Lancet" is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's oldest and best known general medical journals, and has been described as one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lancet
http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-science-to...18420.html
EXCERPT: [...] Among the more than 2,000 retracted life science papers that researchers reviewed in this study, only about 20 percent were retracted because of honest errors. A whopping 70 percent were pulled as a result of scientific misconduct — that is, lying, cheating and/or stealing. A retraction implies that the paper is flawed, that it should never have been published and that the presented results shouldn't be considered trustworthy. Unfortunately, while you can scrub a paper from a journal, you can't always erase it from public consciousness.....
"Perhaps half [of medical literature] may simply be untrue"
http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/l...0696-1.pdf
EXCERPT: The case against [medical research] science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. As one participant put it, “poor methods get results”. The Academy of Medical Sciences, Medical Research Council, and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have now put their reputational weight behind an investigation into these questionable research practices. The apparent endemicity of bad research behaviour is alarming. In their quest for telling a compelling story, scientists too often sculpt data to fit their preferred theory of the world. Or they retrofit hypotheses to fit their data. Journal editors deserve their fair share of criticism too....
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"The Lancet" is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's oldest and best known general medical journals, and has been described as one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lancet