Okay, so this is not exactly about feminist bioethics, but it does highlight in wonderfully vivid terms a real problem facing the scientific community. (Also, it’s Friday afternoon, and, if you’re still in front of your computer, you deserve a good laugh.)
The problem to which I refer is, obviously, the proliferation of fraudulent journals. Specifically, I would be very interested to see a study documenting the reception of articles published in such “journals.” Are they ever cited to deleterious effect? I assume the overwhelming majority of practicing scientists know the sociology of the field and are not going to be misled when they encounter an unusual conclusion supported by a citation from a journal they have never heard of that turns out to exist only on the Internet and doesn’t have any reputable scientists or institutions supporting it.
Injecting medicine to cialis store genital organ is a common disease in men. viagra 20mg Contraindications : Kamagra Gold cannot be used in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A proper treatment is very canada viagra cheap important for patients to have a healthy and happy sexual life. Hence, it is important that you curb obesity and maintain healthy weight opacc.cv sans prescription viagra to prevent ED. So it would seem this is a rather marginal issue–except only for the epidemic of public ignorance about how science advances and what basic facts and theories it has uncontroversially established. I could easily see hucksters in the supplement industry, new age cult leaders, or–most dangerously–politicians citing such non-scientific articles and successfully duping their audiences. Dangerous substances contained in supplements have caused serious health problems and even death. Cults damage people both psychologically and physically, as, for instance, when they deny children basic medical treatment; those that reject vaccination (which more than half of Americans already doubt is safe and effective) additionally compromise public health. As to politicians, I don’t think I even need to elaborate: suffice it to say that elected officials and professional educators in the U.S. continue to question the truth of evolutionary theory and global warming.
Are readers aware of any such instances? I simply do not know whether or to what extent these fraudulent journals pose a genuine danger to the public at large. It is entirely possible that my previous paragraph is unduly alarmist and that the only victims of this industry are those aspiring scientists duped into paying to have their sub-standard work published in a disreputable venue to which no one pays any attention.
These additional links provide concrete evidence showing just how prevalent such publications are and one noteworthy attempt to do something about it.
