On Thursday, October 18, 2012 10:52:48 am DUMAS Philippe (UDS) wrote: > > Le Jeudi 18 Octobre 2012 19:16 CEST, "Bernhard Rupp (Hofkristallrat a.D.)" > <hofkristall...@gmail.com> a écrit: > > I had a look to this PNAS paper by Fang et al. > I am a bit surprised by their interpretation of their Fig. 3: > they claim that here exists a highly signficant correlation between > Impact factor and number of retractations. > Personnaly, I would have concluded to a complete lack of correlation... > Should I retract this judgment?
Fang et al. claim that R^2 = 0.0866, which means that CC = 0.29. While a correlation coefficient of less than 0.3 is not "a complete lack of correlation", it's still rather weak. The "highly significant" must be taken in a purely statistical sense. That is, it doesn't mean "the measures are highly correlated", it means "the evidence for non-zero correlation is very strong". Ethan > Philippe Dumas > > > Dear CCP4 followers, > > > > Maybe you are already aware of this interesting study in PNAS regarding the > > prevalence of fraud vs. 'real' error in paper retractions: > > > > Fang FC, Steen RG and Casadevall A (2012) Misconduct accounts for the > > majority of retracted scientific publications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A > > 109(42): 17028-33. > > > > http://www.pnas.org/content/109/42/17028.abstract > > > > There were also a few comments on related stuff such as fake peer review in > > the Chronicle of Higher Education. As not all may > > have access to that journal, I have put the 3 relevant pdf links on my web > > > > http://www.ruppweb.org/CHE_Misconduct_PNAS_Stuft_Oct_2012.pdf > > http://www.ruppweb.org/CHE_DYI_reviews_Sept_30_2012.pdf > > http://www.ruppweb.org/CHE_The-Great-Pretender_Oct_8_2012.pdf > > > > > > Best regards, BR > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > Bernhard Rupp > > 001 (925) 209-7429 > > +43 (676) 571-0536 > > b...@ruppweb.org > > hofkristall...@gmail.com > > http://www.ruppweb.org/ > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > -- Ethan A Merritt Biomolecular Structure Center, K-428 Health Sciences Bldg University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742