Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Are scientific papers still reliable? Or have we compromised quality for production?

#1
C C Offline
https://mariobarbatti.wordpress.com/2016...oes-wrong/

EXCERPT: The main results of the paper were obviously wrong. This was clear to me and my colleagues as soon as we dropped an eye on that paper. Our wonder was how the authors, the reviewers, the editor didn’t notice that and allowed it to be published.

I won’t name names here, but it’s a real case, which took place not long ago. And I’m not talking about a publication lost in one of those obscure journals flooding our spam boxes. The paper appeared in a traditional and high impact factor journal.

It may have helped that the bylines had three well-known names in the field. Did the reviewers felt intimidated? All in all, if those people say that the phenomenon should be like that, they are probably right, right? Or maybe the reviewers didn’t even notice the error: anyone regularly publishing knows how lousy and lazy reviewers can be.

This case would be an anecdote if it were not a symptom of something more serious happening in the academy. I have seen too many papers with obvious mistakes, flawed logic, misinterpretations, and unacceptable methodologies to believe that this was an isolated case.

It worries me that papers, the main medium for scientific reports, are becoming unreliable....
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Article 10,000 research papers retracted in 2023 C C 0 66 Dec 30, 2023 01:16 AM
Last Post: C C
  When science influencers polarize our politics + How many fake papers? C C 3 119 Nov 8, 2023 11:04 AM
Last Post: stryder
  Article Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common C C 0 56 May 11, 2023 02:04 PM
Last Post: C C
  Article Is peer review doomed? + AI makes sci fraud easier + Non-humans authoring sci papers C C 0 62 Mar 18, 2023 11:35 PM
Last Post: C C
  Citation count coercion + Papers less likely to replicate + EU to reform publishing C C 0 62 Mar 4, 2023 07:23 PM
Last Post: C C
  Science publisher retracts 44 papers for being utter nonsense C C 1 79 Nov 7, 2021 03:55 AM
Last Post: Syne
  Scientific publication: A vulnerable system, from fake papers to imaginary scientists C C 0 94 Jun 23, 2021 01:34 AM
Last Post: C C
  Yes, cancel culture is affecting science papers C C 1 230 Jan 12, 2021 03:54 PM
Last Post: stryder
  Experimental philosophy is more reliable & robust than psychology C C 0 344 Jul 14, 2018 08:28 AM
Last Post: C C
  How Reliable Are Cancer Studies? C C 1 531 Jan 21, 2017 04:24 PM
Last Post: Zinjanthropos



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)