Jul 29, 2024 09:42 AM
(This post was last modified: Jul 29, 2024 09:43 AM by C C.)
https://eiko-fried.com/zombie-theories-w...ck-around/
INTRO (excerpts): When I talk to friends or family members who do not work in academia, they have beliefs about how science works — beliefs that appear entirely sensible:
I do not want to revisit this debate, but instead take a look at why this is: why do problematic studies get published in the first place? Why do ideas stick around even when they’re shown to be false? And what can we do about that? The main reasons are vicious cycles and self-sustaining feedback loops inherent in how academia and science operate.
[...] There are many other examples of zombie theories — theories that stick around and simply won’t die. ... A 2020 paper showed that retractions after misconduct basically have no impact on citation count. That means that retracted papers keep gathering citations in the same way they would if they were not retracted... (MORE - details)
RELATED (scivillage): Retraction Watch Updates
INTRO (excerpts): When I talk to friends or family members who do not work in academia, they have beliefs about how science works — beliefs that appear entirely sensible:
- Most published results are correct or at least plausible, because scientific journals are the most thorough outlets.
- Errors occur very rarely, and if they do, they are corrected swiftly.
- If people really cheat, which happens very rarely, they are kicked out, especially if they are repeat offenders.
- When prominent news outlets cover science, they do so accurately: New York Times, Guardian and other sources can (largely) be trusted.
I do not want to revisit this debate, but instead take a look at why this is: why do problematic studies get published in the first place? Why do ideas stick around even when they’re shown to be false? And what can we do about that? The main reasons are vicious cycles and self-sustaining feedback loops inherent in how academia and science operate.
[...] There are many other examples of zombie theories — theories that stick around and simply won’t die. ... A 2020 paper showed that retractions after misconduct basically have no impact on citation count. That means that retracted papers keep gathering citations in the same way they would if they were not retracted... (MORE - details)
RELATED (scivillage): Retraction Watch Updates