More than 100 articles retracted by two scientific journals this year

Is fraud on the rise in peer reviewed scientific journals? PJ Media contributor Theodore Dalrymple points to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that reveals some alarming facts about papers submitted to prestigious publications in the medical field.

Peer review is time consuming and it is often difficult for the editors of general journals, such as the Lancet, the New England Journal and so forth, to be familiar with the experts in all fields. The editors of smaller journals do not have resources of their more eminent confrères necessary to find them, and they, the editors, are frequently judged by the speed with which they publish manuscripts sent to them. Scientists are anxious to be published as quickly as possible because others in their field might publish before them, and to be second to publish a discovery is about as useful as being seventh best javelin thrower in the world.

Because of super-specialization, the authors of papers themselves are nowadays often asked to suggest referees for peer review of their own work, but this, of course, leaves an opening for the practice of fraud. In a modern variant on Gogol’s Dead Souls, some scientists have been caught sending their papers for peer review to non-existent reviewers, complete with a curriculum vitae and an e-mail address. The article quotes the author of a blog on scientific research called “Retraction Watch,” who said “This is officially becoming a trend”: an odd way to put it, since either it is a trend or it isn’t, official recognition having nothing to do with it. There are even companies in China, apparently, that will help scientists to manufacture bogus peer reviews. A new twist would be for the rivals of those scientists to pay for bad reviews.

Basically, there is a revolving door between Pharma and the FDA. It’s at least as bad as the DOD revolving door. Same same USDA and Agribusiness. Drugs are approved based on “studies” that hide bad drug reactions by simply removing those cases entirely from the study as if they never existed. Sometimes a “study” that started out with 2000 patients ends up with only a couple of dozen at the end. Drugs are then approved on this basis. That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

I no strongly doubt that the country can survive the epidemic levels of corruption in Govt much longer. Now you have felons being hired by the Fed Govt. These are the people that will be used to suppress the population, much like the Nazi Brownshirts, who were largely recruited from the criminal class as well.

/rant

Da Coyote :" ..And, can one imagine wiat a real scientist who actually is competant in math could do to poor old â€œMr Scienceâ€ Bill Nye? "

Oh , do you mean one of the experts on Climatology and GLOW-BULL warming ?
The same Bill Nye, with a degree in mechanical engineering (?)commenting on climate control.
Yeah , that's the extent of their 'science' experts !!
Has about as much scientific back ground as Nancie Pelousey directing a discourse on Plasma Energy,
or Tarantino on gun control.

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