Category: weekend reads

As might have been expected, continuing developments in the Michael LaCour gay canvassing study retraction have drowned out coverage of stories that ordinarily might capture a lot of attention, such as fake case reports making their way into CDC data. A sampling:

• Berkeley graduate student David Broockman, one of the people whose critique brought down the study, “was consistently told by friends and advisers to keep quiet about his concerns lest he earn a reputation as a troublemaker, or —  perhaps worse — someone who merely replicates and investigates others’ research rather than plant a flag of his own.” A chilling quote from New York Magazine’s Jesse Singal’s devastating tick-tock of the case.
• The New York Times got the first interview with LaCour.
• There are a lot of questions about another of LaCour’s studies, according to BuzzFeed’s Virginia Hughes.
• Ivan went on PBS NewsHour to discuss the case.

But just like last week, there was plenty happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study saga continues; Elsevier policy sparks concern; a string of scandals

As we noted Saturday, there was so much happening around the web last week that it made sense to break up Weekend Reads, especially since this is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and elsewhere. Here’s part 2: Continue reading Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation ever; blame the antibodies?

This week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the Science same-sex marriage study, after we broke the news Wednesday morning that one of its authors had requested its retraction. (And crashed our servers in the process.) So the first section of this Weekend Reads will focus on pieces following up on that story:

• The New Republic’s Naomi Shavin told the story of how we broke the story, and how the study fell apart.
• Jesse Singal of New York Magazine interviewed Donald Green, the co-author who asked for the retraction.
• Ivan spoke to NPR’s On The Media about the study, and what the story says about peer review.
• “”The incentives to publish today are corrupting the scientific literature and the media that covers it.” We wrote a New York Times op-ed for today’s paper, “What’s Behind Big Science Frauds?“

But there was plenty more happening this week: Continue reading Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the world’s biggest faker was caught

This week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a Cell paper by Harvard researchers and the retraction of a JCI study by NIH scientists. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Turning journal spam into a paper; embracing science’s flaws; ending bias

The week at Retraction Watch featured lots of news about exercise. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Should retirement-age scientists make way?; no pay-for-fast-track peer review

This week at Retraction Watch featured a sexist peer review seen around the world, and settlement of the malpractice case against Duke and Anil Potti. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:  Continue reading Weekend reads: Stress tests in psychology; writing advice to ignore; how to have fun in the lab

The week at Retraction Watch featured a lawsuit over the authorship of a paper, and a look at when exactly a study should be retracted. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Continue reading Weekend reads: Faith-based peer review; lab bloopers; post-publication peer review etiquette

The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of 11 papers by a controversial researcher in Italy, and a look at the controversy over lead in the water supply. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Aussie scientists bend rules; how to fix peer review once and for all; crazy structure alert

This week at Retraction Watch featured two Office of Research Integrity findings, and retractions in the Voinnet and Hanna cases. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Yelp for journals; where do the postdocs go?; scientific papers’ hidden jokes

The week at Retraction Watch featured an adventure in irony as a paper on plagiarism was retracted for…plagiarism, as well as another retraction for high-profile cancer research Robert Weinberg. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Publication pollution, irreproducible research crisis, and broken funding models