An article in the NY Times focuses on an alarming trend that is especially prominent in the biomedical sciences: the rate of article retractions from scientific journals is increasing; see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/science/rise-in-scientific-journal-retractions-prompts-calls-for-reform.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all There;s a nice little graph showing the increase in retractions from 2000 to 2009 (retractions for fraud N=196, scientific mistake N=235, and other reasons N=311), with 180 retractions in 2009. One interesting finding: |But other forces are more pernicious. To survive professionally, |scientists feel the need to publish as many papers as possible, |and to get them into high-profile journals. And sometimes they |cut corners or even commit misconduct to get there. | |To measure this claim, Dr. Fang and Dr. Casadevall looked at |the rate of retractions in 17 journals from 2001 to 2010 and |compared it with the journals’ “impact factor,” a score based on |how often their papers are cited by scientists. The higher a |journal’s impact factor, the two editors found, the higher its |retraction rate. And to the more entrepreneurial folks out there, consider: |Dr. Ness likens scientists today to small-business owners, |rather than people trying to satisfy their curiosity about how |the world works. “You’re marketing and selling to other scientists,” |she said. “To the degree you can market and sell your products |better, you’re creating the revenue stream to fund your enterprise.” I guess this raises questions about how well we are teaching out students marketing and self-promotion skills (modeled after St Steve Jobs) and strategies on how to avoid retraction of publications. Of course, doing "good" research is the naive answer but how else is one going to get 20-30 publications a year in a grant thin environment -- how do you avoid detection of a serious problem in your article in that situation? I guess the next edition of "The Compleat Academic" will provide advice on that. 1/2 :-) -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] P.S. Don't forget to check out the retraction now blog from time to time: http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/thats-a-mori-seven-more-retractions-brings-latest-count-to-30/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=17362 or send a blank email to leave-17362-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
