Aug 2011
Dreamless?
19/08/11 13:10 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Blogger Paul Knoepfler wrote that he sometimes lets himself dream big as a scientist, but recognized that those dreams may not necessarily come true tomorrow. S. Pelech adds that "Big dreamers hardly sleep!" Read More...
Take That Back
12/08/11 16:16 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Blogger Derek Lowe at the Pipeline described what appears to be seems to be a dramatic increase in the frequency of retracted papers based on data from Thomson Reuters, which reported that the number of papers published has risen 44 percent since 2001, while the retraction rate has risen 15-fold. A chart of PubMed retractions shows many of them are from top journals. S. Pelech comments that with over a million new scientific manuscripts published annually, the actual increase in retracted publications over the last decade is actually pretty inconsequential. Read More...
Take it Easy
04/08/11 01:07 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
John Horgan at the Scientific American Cross-check blog suggested that when researchers rush to publish their results, they can make mistakes and exaggerate the importance of their work, cut corners, and sometimes commit fraud. This is why some researchers are now championing what's being called the "slow science movement," which calls on researchers to be deliberate and cautious in what they choose to print. S. Pelech comments that slow science does not necessarily equate with better science, and exaggeration of the importance of research findings, cutting corners and committing fraud are not really linked to performing faster science, it just bad science at any speed. Read More...