Science is synonymous with truth and can any one believe if those practicing scientific research will falsify their findings to gain name and fame? It is true that the ethical and moral standards among the people in almost all countries are getting diluted and the political and business class of people are the most obvious examples. If a country like the US with all its power can succumb to interests other than that of its citizens through policies and administrative manipulations, where can the honest citizen go for justice! Look at India where financial scams, one after another are rocking the country with the political class multiplying their wealth by 100% every year while the annual GDP growth rate is sliding down from 10% to less than 6%! Probably the scientific community has also succumbed to this disease as reflected by a recent report about the increasing frauds being perpetuated among scientists. Here is a take on this shameful decline of values among the supposed truth seekers.
"Last year, Nature, a leading scientific journal, calculated that published retractions had increased tenfold over the past decade — to more than 300 a year — even though the number of papers published rose only 44 percent. It attributed half of the retractions to embarrassing mistakes and half to "scientific misconduct" such as plagiarism, faked data and altered images. Now a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has concluded that the degree of misconduct was even worse than previously thought. The authors analyzed more than 2,000 retracted papers in the biomedical and life sciences and found that misconduct was the reason for three-quarters of the retractions for which they could determine the cause. The problem is global. Retracted papers were written in more than 50 countries, with most of the fraud or suspected fraud occurring in the United States, Germany, Japan and China. The problem may even be greater than the new estimates suggest, the authors say, because many journals don't explain why an article was retracted — a failure that calls out for uniform guidelines. There are many theories for why retractions and fraud have increased. A benign view suggests that because journals are now published on-line and more accessible to a wider audience, it's easier for experts to spot erroneous or fraudulent papers. A darker view suggests that publish-or-perish pressures in the race to be first with a finding and to place it in a prestigious journal has driven scientists to make sloppy mistakes or even falsify data. The solutions are not obvious, but clearly greater vigilance by reviewers and editors is needed".
While one can console oneself by the statistics that implicate only a small percentage of scientists indulging in these corrupt practices, it still is a blot on the entire scientific community. Absence of honesty, lack of transparency, greed for easy and fast recognition and a sense of false confidence on getting away with such mal-practices seem to be drawing more and more scientists into this wretched trap. The so clod peers, many of them not wanting to be "unpopular" with those whose papers are referred to them for evaluation or because of fear, also have to bear part of the responsibility. The so called research leaders under whom R & D is performed are increasingly becoming laggard in guiding their wards or leaving things to them without actually performing their supervisory role properly. A rigorous and deterrent punishment system must be put in place, in stead of the present practice of allowing errand scientists to withdraw their articles, if this undesirable and abhorrent practices are to be checked.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
"Last year, Nature, a leading scientific journal, calculated that published retractions had increased tenfold over the past decade — to more than 300 a year — even though the number of papers published rose only 44 percent. It attributed half of the retractions to embarrassing mistakes and half to "scientific misconduct" such as plagiarism, faked data and altered images. Now a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has concluded that the degree of misconduct was even worse than previously thought. The authors analyzed more than 2,000 retracted papers in the biomedical and life sciences and found that misconduct was the reason for three-quarters of the retractions for which they could determine the cause. The problem is global. Retracted papers were written in more than 50 countries, with most of the fraud or suspected fraud occurring in the United States, Germany, Japan and China. The problem may even be greater than the new estimates suggest, the authors say, because many journals don't explain why an article was retracted — a failure that calls out for uniform guidelines. There are many theories for why retractions and fraud have increased. A benign view suggests that because journals are now published on-line and more accessible to a wider audience, it's easier for experts to spot erroneous or fraudulent papers. A darker view suggests that publish-or-perish pressures in the race to be first with a finding and to place it in a prestigious journal has driven scientists to make sloppy mistakes or even falsify data. The solutions are not obvious, but clearly greater vigilance by reviewers and editors is needed".
While one can console oneself by the statistics that implicate only a small percentage of scientists indulging in these corrupt practices, it still is a blot on the entire scientific community. Absence of honesty, lack of transparency, greed for easy and fast recognition and a sense of false confidence on getting away with such mal-practices seem to be drawing more and more scientists into this wretched trap. The so clod peers, many of them not wanting to be "unpopular" with those whose papers are referred to them for evaluation or because of fear, also have to bear part of the responsibility. The so called research leaders under whom R & D is performed are increasingly becoming laggard in guiding their wards or leaving things to them without actually performing their supervisory role properly. A rigorous and deterrent punishment system must be put in place, in stead of the present practice of allowing errand scientists to withdraw their articles, if this undesirable and abhorrent practices are to be checked.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
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