Time for a Government Hearing on Peer Review?

Here is a story about another fraudulent paper published in a prestigious peer reviewed journal, this time involving cancer research. Whatever side one might be on regarding cloning and ESCR, we all have a stake in scientific integrity. We have always relied on the journals to self police. But with fraud seemingly on the increase, and with government policy often relying on peer reviewed journal articles as intellectual foundations, perhaps the time has come to investigate the peer review system to determine; a) its reliability; and, b), whether the system needs reform.

I am not advocating that laws be passed imposing that journal articles meet government mandated criteria. But I do believe we need to get to the bottom of what may be a fundamentally flawed system.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist

Peter J. Leithart

It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…

The Possibility of Possibility

Midge Goldberg

"Might could” is a Southern expression meaning “maybe I could” or “I might be able to,” conveying…

The False Promise of No Contact

Noelle Mering

Around the time nineteen-year-old Alice began cutting ties with her family, she announced on social media that…