2023-07-18 09:00:08
Perhaps it was because he loves cats that intriguing photos of lab mice piqued Smut Clyde’s curiosity, for what was to be his first investigation into science cheaters. Besides, isn’t Smut the name of his first pet? “I used this pseudonym in self-mockery and it has advantages. I cannot use an argument from authority to assert that my criticisms are correct. These must stand on their own feet”explains, by videoconference, this 64-year-old retiree from the academic world, barely disturbed by the passage of a feline on his desk.
In September 2017, therefore, he browses the PubPeer forum for reviews of scientific articles, and comes across an amusing contribution. The same photos of mice, having undergone different treatments, are found in two articles by different authors: same position of the ears or legs, same tumour. He asks his favorite search engine for bits of text borrowed from these first two articles and comes across a new production that used images identical to the previous ones, but with a frame on mouse cells. He makes new requests and, in addition to plagiarism, finds other identical graphs in articles by teams with no common point between them. “I have a good visual memory. In the forest, I spot mushrooms or orchids very well”explains this New Zealander with a long sparse beard that makes him look more like a man of the woods than a former researcher in the psychology of perception at Massey University, Wellington.
OLIVIER BALEZ
Although this initial investigation found only about fifteen articles that seemed to draw from the same sources, it was his first discovery of what are known as “paper mills” (paper mills). The scam consists in selling to unscrupulous researchers who are anxious to enrich their CVs turnkey articles, which imitate the canons of the genre: catchy title, talking images, promises of therapeutic applications… First “mill” and first victory : some of the unearthed articles are withdrawn by the journals. “I like the expressions ‘science detective’ or ‘science keeper’. To take an interest in and correct bad science is to do good science”he explains.
Surveys and spreadsheets
The successes follow one another, collected in spreadsheets listing the articles, the authors, the decisions of the publishers… He even has a spreadsheet of spreadsheets, summarizing his investigations: 46 paper mills identified, concerning more than 9,500 supposedly fraudulent articles, including 4,000 were retracted. “I love brain teasers and puzzles. I like finding relationships between things, putting pieces together”describes Smut Clyde.
You have 54.34% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#Smut #Clyde #scout #mushrooms #bogus #science