Carl T. BergstromMay 12, 2023

This week, Science published a stunningly irresponsible news story entitled "Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common" and claiming that upward of 30% of the scientific literature is fake.

https://www.science.org/content/article/fake-scientific-papers-are-alarmingly-common

Below, the first two paragraphs of the story.

Headline and intro notwithstanding, the story itself later notes that the detector doesn't actually work and flags nearly half of real papers as fake. Does the reporter just not understand that?

h/t @Hoch

Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common

But new tools show promise in tackling growing symptom of academia’s “publish or perish” culture

Show threadSteveBolognaMay 12, 2023
@ct_bergstrom @Hoch I’m too old and too cynical not to think this is in the realm of possibility
Show threadKeith IveyMay 12, 2023
@SteveBologna @ct_bergstrom @Hoch That may be, but this paper certainly doesn't count as evidence (beyond the fact that it was somehow published despite its bogosity).
Show threadSteveBologna
@kcivey @ct_bergstrom @Hoch I am not in a science field but I do spend an hour vetting what I read in the news. There are so many sources I won’t even read anymore because time after time they’re either lying, omitting, neglecting, or just prevaricating.
May 12, 2023 at 7:29pmWeb