Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wanted to have at least 5 Saudi universities among the top 200 in the world by 2030.

So he paid lots of scientists to falsely claim they worked in Saudi Arabia! Some got up to €70,000 a year just for pretending to work there.

Unfortunately they got caught. The newspaper El Pais exposed the scam.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia had 109 professors on the List of Highly Cited Researchers, compiled by Clarivate. After a bunch got caught, the number dropped to 26. 🤣

Someone should carefully check those 26 researchers.

In fact this "List of Highly Cited Researchers" is a fraud magnet. As of 2024, one in three apparently highly cited researchers has been caught engaging in bad practices.

This is a great example of Goodhart's Law: ""When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure".

Thanks to @mansr for pointing this out.

https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2024-12-05/dozens-of-the-worlds-most-cited-scientists-stop-falsely-claiming-to-work-in-saudi-arabia.html

> On November 28th, 2012, Randall Munroe published an xkcd comic that was a calendar in which the size of each date was proportional to how often each date is referenced by its ordinal name (…) "In months other than September, the 11th is mentioned substantially less often than any other date. It's been that way since long before 9/11 and I have no idea why." After digging into the raw data, I believe I have figured out why.

https://drhagen.com/blog/the-missing-11th-of-the-month/

@richardsever There was nothing on the biorxiv FAQ or information pages on the process of becoming an affiliate who helps screen preprints before they are posted.

How does one become an affiliate and helps screen preprints?

#Via Trish Greenhalgh
@trishgreenhalgh
June 19, 2025, 12:22 PM

"Every summer, I repost this article DROWNING DOES NOT LOOK LIKE DROWNING. To date, I know of FOUR kids who were saved after someone who'd clicked on the link learnt how to spot actual drowning. Take time to read and pass on."

https://slate.com/technology/2013/06/rescuing-drowning-children-how-to-know-when-someone-is-in-trouble-in-the-water.html

Alan Turing died by suicide on 7 June 1954. Turing was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 and given a choice between imprisonment and probation. His probation would be conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal physical changes designed to reduce his libido. Turing's conviction led to the removal of his security clearance and barred him from continuing with his consultancy for GCHQ. He was denied entry into the United States after his conviction.

#AlanTuring #GayRights #OnThisDay