‘The situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point
Once again this destruction can be traced to the Left. If "there is no such thing as truth", why not put out false claims about global warming, vaccine safety, sexual mutilation of minors and all the rest. No credibilty without replication must now be the watchword
Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned. Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is sweeping laboratories and universities.
Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped 10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud.
“The situation has become appalling,” said Professor Dorothy Bishop of Oxford University. “The level of publishing of fraudulent papers is creating serious problems for science. In many fields it is becoming difficult to build up a cumulative approach to a subject, because we lack a solid foundation of trustworthy findings. And it’s getting worse and worse.”
The startling rise in the publication of sham science papers has its roots in China, where young doctors and scientists seeking promotion were required to have published scientific papers. Shadow organisations – known as “paper mills” – began to supply fabricated work for publication in journals there.
The practice has since spread to India, Iran, Russia, former Soviet Union states and eastern Europe, with paper mills supplying fabricated studies to more and more journals as increasing numbers of young scientists try to boost their careers by claiming false research experience. In some cases, journal editors have been bribed to accept articles, while paper mills have managed to establish their own agents as guest editors who then allow reams of falsified work to be published.
“Editors are not fulfilling their roles properly, and peer reviewers are not doing their jobs. And some are being paid large sums of money,” said Professor Alison Avenell of Aberdeen University. “It is deeply worrying.”
The products of paper mills often look like regular articles but are based on templates in which names of genes or diseases are slotted in at random among fictitious tables and figures. Worryingly, these articles can then get incorporated into large databases used by those working on drug discovery.
Others are more bizarre and include research unrelated to a journal’s field, making it clear that no peer review has taken place in relation to that article. An example is a paper on Marxist ideology that appeared in the journal Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine. Others are distinctive because of the strange language they use, including references to “bosom peril” rather than breast cancer and “Parkinson’s ailment” rather Parkinson’s disease.
Watchdog groups – such as Retraction Watch – have tracked the problem and have noted retractions by journals that were forced to act on occasions when fabrications were uncovered. One study, by Nature, revealed that in 2013 there were just over 1,000 retractions. In 2022, the figure topped 4,000 before jumping to more than 10,000 last year.
Of this last total, more than 8,000 retracted papers had been published in journals owned by Hindawi, a subsidiary of the publisher Wiley, figures that have now forced the company to act. “We will be sunsetting the Hindawi brand and have begun to fully integrate the 200-plus Hindawi journals into Wiley’s portfolio,” a Wiley spokesperson told the Observer.
The spokesperson added that Wiley had now identified hundreds of fraudsters present in its portfolio of journals, as well as those who had held guest editorial roles. “We have removed them from our systems and will continue to take a proactive … approach in our efforts to clean up the scholarly record, strengthen our integrity processes and contribute to cross-industry solutions.”
But Wiley insisted it could not tackle the crisis on its own, a message echoed by other publishers, which say they are under siege from paper mills. Academics remain cautious, however. The problem is that in many countries, academics are paid according to the number of papers they have published.
“If you have growing numbers of researchers who are being strongly incentivised to publish just for the sake of publishing, while we have a growing number of journals making money from publishing the resulting articles, you have a perfect storm,” said Professor Marcus Munafo of Bristol University. “That is exactly what we have now.”
The harm done by publishing poor or fabricated research is demonstrated by the anti-parasite drug ivermectin. Early laboratory studies indicated it could be used to treat Covid-19 and it was hailed as a miracle drug. However, it was later found these studies showed clear evidence of fraud, and medical authorities have refused to back it as a treatment for Covid.
“The trouble was, ivermectin was used by anti-vaxxers to say: ‘We don’t need vaccination because we have this wonder drug,’” said Jack Wilkinson at Manchester University. “But many of the trials that underpinned those claims were not authentic.”
Wilkinson added that he and his colleagues were trying to develop protocols that researchers could apply to reveal the authenticity of studies that they might include in their own work. “Some great science came out during the pandemic, but there was an ocean of rubbish research too. We need ways to pinpoint poor data right from the start.”
The danger posed by the rise of the paper mill and fraudulent research papers was also stressed by Professor Malcolm MacLeod of Edinburgh University. “If, as a scientist, I want to check all the papers about a particular drug that might target cancers or stroke cases, it is very hard for me to avoid those that are fabricated. Scientific knowledge is being polluted by made-up material. We are facing a crisis.”
This point was backed by Bishop: “People are building careers on the back of this tidal wave of fraudulent science and could end up running scientific institutes and eventually be used by mainstream journals as reviewers and editors. Corruption is creeping into the system.”
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Why progressives don’t face real consequences
One of the most tedious and repetitive observations made in the often tedious and repetitive discourse around cancel culture is the notion that ‘freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences’. This slightly sinister cliché is the progressive version of ‘well, think on, you wouldn’t have been shot if you hadn’t been trying to escape’. It is usually offered forth as if it is somehow a seismic statement.
Some clumsy clots – the hapless Graham Norton last year, for example, when discussing JK Rowling – have even tried to frame cancel culture as ‘accountability culture’ or ‘consequences culture’. But it strikes me that there is a shadow image of cancel culture that we might call ‘no consequences culture’.
As I write, the story of Azhar Ali, the Labour candidate in the Rochdale by-election, is still developing. Ali was recorded spouting the conspiracy theory that the Israeli government had deliberately allowed Hamas to rape and massacre its citizens on October 7th. This is a modern version of the ancient blood libel against the Jews.
Ali made a quick apology. And bish bash bosh, all was forgiven by the Labour party, which stood by him until Monday evening. Even then the party only withdrew its support for the candidate after ‘new information about further comments’ made by him came to light. Ali may well still become an MP – who votes with Labour in the Commons – if he is elected. It is, apparently, procedurally too late to switch him off the ballot, so he will still be the Labour candidate in the by-election.
Frontbencher Lisa Nandy was campaigning right alongside him on Sunday, after the revelation. (In a grim irony this was at a ‘women’s Q&A session’.) Another frontbencher, Pat McFadden, looked even more android-like than usual as his speech circuits informed Trevor Philips on Sunday that Ali’s ethnic conspiracy was ‘totally wrong’ but that he would remain the Labour candidate in Rochdale.
This is a model illustration of where cultural and political power actually resides in modern Britain. Racism is supposedly our biggest taboo. Labour are planning to bring in a Race Equality Act. But you can spout the nastiest racial conspiracies about Jews, drop a quick apology, and the party will rush to your defence.
Diane Abbott and Kate Osamor have both had the Labour whip removed, for lesser though still egregious, outbursts. But the party was perfectly able to come to Ali’s aid. As Lord Frost tweeted before the suspension, ‘The only possible explanation is that (Labour) fear (dropping Ali) will have worse consequences within their party than doing nothing and hoping it all goes away.’
This is just the latest example of no real comeback for serious lapses. Here are some more. Nancy Kelley, the disastrous former CEO of Stonewall, described lesbians as ‘sexual racists’ if they refused to entertain the idea of having sex with ‘trans women’ and suggested gender-critical groups were akin to anti-Semites. A pretty spectacular slip, you’d think, for the head of a gay rights charity. But somehow this bizarre outburst didn’t beleaguer Kelley at all, and she is now part of the team leading Lesbian Visibility Week. Then we have the tube driver who led a ‘free Palestine’ chant on his train – slapped wrist, back on duty. We don’t even know who it was that authorised or facilitated the transfer of Scarlett Jenkinson to a new school and neglected to inform them that she had poisoned a classmate at her old one. This person or persons, whose actions put children directly in danger and led to the horrible murder of Brianna Ghey, has been totally forgotten. Nobody seems even to be asking who they are, or how to ensure such a situation cannot happen again.
Whereas, as we know, there are ‘consequences’ galore for trivialities, bad taste, gaffes and opinions expressed that aren’t a part of the ‘progressive’ package.
It might be said that when an apology is forthcoming then good manners and Christian forgiveness should mean a transgressor is given a second chance. But a grovel and a touch of the forelock only works if you are on the correct side. It is inconceivable, for example, that a parliamentary candidate who had said what Ali did about any other ethnic minority and then apologised would be backed by a mainstream political party.
There are no real consequences for such people because they are progressives, and their progressive confreres control all of the institutions. Most of the press and broadcast media don’t even notice their transgressions and they slip quickly off the media and down the memory hole – who even remembers that actress Maxine Peake spouted a bizarre anti-Israel conspiracy about the death of George Floyd? Who even remembers that Lisa Forbes, former Labour MP for Peterborough, said ‘I have enjoyed reading this thread so much’ under a Facebook post that claimed Isis was created and funded by Israel?
There’s one law for progressive and non-progressive alike, but the punishments differ.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/02/why-progressives-dont-face-real-consequences
*************************************************The Lord is with Gen Z! Catholic core sweeps TikTok as devout youngsters share their advice for wearing veils, show off their rosary beads and embrace the full Latin mass
From Madonna's Like a Prayer video featuring stigmata and a kiss with a saint to Lady Gaga as Mary Magdalene going clubbing with Jesus in her son Judas, Catholic iconography has long been deeply embedded in popular culture.
But Gen Z are taking it one step further with so-called Catholic core sweeping Tiktok, and rather than just borrowing the aesthetic, 18 to 25-year-olds are fully embracing religion.
From showing off their rosary beads to 20-something priests asking their followers to rate 'their fit' on vestments, many are sharing their love of God online.
The beliefs, it seems, as are important as the aesthetic, with people sharing clips of pretty churches, Catholic statues and even church 'OOTD' (outfits of the day), including lace mantillas.
Many sharing their faith online weren't raised Catholics but are converts to the religion.
Maya, 22, who grew up as a 'feminist with purple hair' in Czechia, which she describes as an 'atheist country', has built up a following online going by the 'veiled convert'.
She wears a lace mantilla because she believes 'covering her hair gives all her glory to god', having built up more than 40,000 followers sharing Bible passages and pictures of religious candles, paintings of Saints and rosary beads in her home.
Maya says that she converted after suffering with her mental health during the pandemic and meeting a 'scientist' who was also a convert.
Elsewhere, Gen Z It girl Sabrina Carpenter - rumoured girlfriend of actor Barry Keoghan - recently filmed her video for hit single Feather in a Catholic church, which caused a furore.
Maya, 22, who grew up as a 'feminist with purple hair' in Czechia, which she describes as an 'atheist country', has built up a following online going by the 'veiled convert'. Pictured before and after converting
Monsignor Jamie J Gigantiello issued a grovelling apology and was sacked as church administrator after the former Disney star turned sex siren cavorted in the apse of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn.
His furious bishop Robert Brennan was 'appalled' at the video for Feather which has now attracted 11 million views online, sprinkling the altar with holy water as he forced Gigantiello to conduct a 'Mass of Reparation'.
The video shows Carpenter, 24, arrive provocatively dressed at the church in a pink hearse for the 'funeral' of former boyfriends in front of an altar decorated with their pastel coffins, one of which includes the inscription 'RIP B****'.
'I offer my sincere apologies for this shameful representation which I whole-heartedly denounce,' Gigantiello told his parishioners in a letter posted on Facebook.
The priest, who has served at the Victorian church for 29 years said he granted permission for the video in a bid to 'further strengthen the bonds between the young creative artists who make up a large part of this community'.
The church originally claimed Carpenter's team 'failed to accurately represent the video content'.
But that did not wash with his Bronx-born bishop who concluded that he was told enough to know the video would feature 'inappropriate behaviour unsuitable for a church sanctuary'.
Elsewhere, Aussie TikTok star John is Catholic, 20, has racked up more than 100,000 TikTok followers for sharing videos about religion.
In one clip he uses cricket to explain the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism.
John's priest is Father Sam French, 30, who shares very Gen Z friendly clips. In one, he asks his followers to rate his fit, asks people to 'hmu' (hit him up) after mass, and says religious references in songs are 'fire'. He's racked up nearly a million views on TikTok for the fun videos.
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National Collegiate Athletic Association Official Resigns Over Transgender Takeover of Women’s Sports: This Is ‘Massive … Authorized Cheating’
Whatever hopes people had for a new day at the NCAA have officially died out. A year into Charlie Baker’s reign and the wildfire threatening to burn down women’s sports still rages—no thanks to the unsympathetic man at the helm.
If anything, Mark Emmert’s successor has proven to be coldly indifferent to the plight of collegiate women, refusing to even meet with victims of his transgender policy until Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., demanded it.
Now, in a stunning turn of events, Baker—a former Republican governor of Massachusetts—is facing rebellion in his own ranks, as a longtime NCAA committee member resigns in protest.
William Bock, a former general counsel for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, quit his post at the NCAA on Friday, blaming the organization’s stubborn refusal to protect girls’ sports. Bock’s departure, after eight years, is already sending shock waves through the sports ranks.
With more than a year left in his current term, Bock says he could no longer stomach the radical policy.
“Although I may not have agreed with the wisdom of every rule in the NCAA rulebook,” he wrote in his letter, “I believed the intent behind the NCAA’s rules was competitive fairness and protection of equal opportunities for student-athletes. This conviction has changed as I have watched the NCAA double down on regressive policies, which discriminate against female student-athletes.”
The Washington Examiner, first to obtain the letter, details Bock’s objections to the current requirements, which are based on reduced testosterone levels, not an athlete’s passage through puberty. While a growing number of international sports bodies recognize that hormones are just one part of the problem, the NCAA stubbornly refuses to adopt tighter restrictions.
It’s puberty, Bock argued, that gives men such a biological advantage.
“… [T]hose changes that you get through development—they don’t go away,” Bock said. “And you’re going to reduce performance by a small amount if you reduce testosterone levels, but you’re never going to bridge the gap between men and women. And so, it’s a ruse to say that testosterone suppression, it’s a level playing field, so it’s not true.”
As someone who’s worked against doping, he insists his mere presence in a “sport integrity role” is compromised when “there’s massive, essentially authorized, cheating taking place and dramatically harming women.” Bock decided that he didn’t want to help the NCAA project this lie of fairness and equity.
“… [I] needed to resign with the hope that maybe [it] will cause other people to look at the issue more closely,” he wrote.
Just this past week, a biological boy literally leapt over the girls’ teams in New Hampshire’s high-jump championship, robbing young women of their place on the podium. His winning jump, people point out, was 10 inches lower than the boys’ highest mark—but it was enough to trash real girls’ dreams.
No wonder New Hampshire is racing to join the other 25 states that have protected women’s sports.
Frankly, Baker should have seen the wave of pushback to this agenda and responded, Concerned Women for America’s Doreen Denny insisted on “Washington Watch.” But, unfortunately, “the NCAA is a coward,” she pointed out. It was a coward under Emmert, it’s “a coward to institutions that are woke. It’s a coward to the culture that wants to convince us that males can take women’s places, because they’re now female—and we know that’s just a farce.”
In the meantime, they should all be taking Bock’s resignation seriously, Denny said, because “his reasons come from his own expertise.”
“He was a part of the U.S. Doping Agency that litigated Lance Armstrong and the testosterone doping scandal that happened. And he said [that] even Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal … pales in comparison [to] the advantage that males have in women’s sports.”
To see someone like Bock step down should prompt some major “soul searching,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins suggested.
“His expertise is the wisdom that NCAA leaders should heed, but instead have rejected,” Denny agreed in a conversation with The Washington Stand. “From the start, NCAA’s policy for participation of trans-identifying male athletes in women’s sports has had no justification in law or science. In fact, it is nothing short of institutional discrimination against female athletes. It’s time for the NCAA to admit this and repeal its wrongheaded policy that is robbing collegiate women of equal opportunity in their own sports.”
“We need more people to take a stand and be courageous,” she urged. “And we just have to keep working.”
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Kristina Pimenova, once said to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Note blue eyes and blonde hair
Bliss: What every woman wants: to feel safe and secure in the arms of her man. Robert Irwin and Rorie Buckey. See
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