Retraction Watch, the essential blog by Ivan Oransky of Reuters and Adam Marcus, just celebrated its second birthday. That's two years of pursuing retractions, demanding that editors be transparent about why they retracted papers, and making a...
Category: research
7Aug 2012
Retraction Watch, the essential blog by Ivan Oransky of Reuters and Adam Marcus, just celebrated its second birthday. That's two years of pursuing retractions, demanding that editors be transparent about why they retracted papers, and making a fuss if they don't. (For more on the site's anniversary, see this interview with Oransky at The Scholarly Kitchen.)
You might think that there are not enough retractions to justify a blog on the topic, but my careful research has revealed the following: Since Retraction Watch was launched, there seem to be many, many more retractions than I remember reading about before. The conclusion is clear: Retraction Watch is the cause of the current epidemic of retractions.
I'm sorry to say, however, that...
Ben Goldacre, the estimable British blogger, has...
Ben Goldacre, the estimable British blogger, has pointed out a problem that is so egregious I wouldn't have even thought to look for it. Too many bloggers and journalists, he tells us, are not linking to primary sources. And what's worse, many of those missing links are obscuring grotesque distortions of what the primary source contained.
Goldacre is a doctor and the author of the Bad Science column in the national British daily, the Guardian. His bio describes him as "an award-winning writer, broadcaster, and medical doctor who specialises in unpicking dodgy...
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