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Bogus science paper reveals peer review's flaws
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of CBC News (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Posted: October 22nd, 2013
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bogus-science-paper-reveal...
A bogus scientific paper about a new anti-cancer compound was accepted by more than half of 300 scientific journals it was submitted to in the past year, despite having obvious and serious scientific flaws. Science journalist John Bohannon reported the results of his experiment in the journal Science. Bohannon, who holds a PhD in molecular biology and is a visiting scholar at Harvard Universitys program in ethics and health, ... concluded [that] a huge proportion of the journals were not ensuring their papers were peer reviewed. Even in cases where peer review happened, it didnt always function correctly. For example, the Ottawa-based International Journal of Herbs and Medicinal Plants clearly sent the paper out to be reviewed by real scientists, who pointed out some flaws, Bohannon recalled. Even so, when Bohannon submitted a revised version of the paper without correcting any of the flaws, it was accepted. Bohannon said peer review is crucial so that readers of a scientific paper know it has at least passed muster with a couple of experts who are in a position, hopefully, to judge. It could be the whole peer review system is just failing under the strain of the tens of thousands of journals that now exist. He added that if peer review isnt working, then people with what amounts to fraudulent scientific credentials and publication records are slowly filling university departments and government offices, making important science-based policy decisions. In addition, terrible science is polluting the global pool of knowledge."
Note: For more on the corruption of science, see the deeply revealing reports from reliable major media sources available here.
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