From at CTV:
Researchers are coming forward with examples of junk science distributed by an international company that now has ties to respectable Canadian journals.
OMICS Group Inc., an online publishing firm headquartered in India, has been accused of duping academics and publishing bogus research with little to no vetting by experts in the field.
A CTV News/Toronto Star investigation found that OMICS purchased two Canadian companies, Andrew John Publishing and Pulsus Group, which have been publishing a number of respected medical journals in fields like cardiology, pathology and optometry.
OMICS purchased two Canadian companies, Andrew John Publishing and Pulsus Group.
Many scientists, doctors and editors said they were outraged and concerned that a company like OMICS can now essentially hijack the good name of Canadian publications. A number of journals that were published by Andrew John or Pulsus have since terminated contracts with OMICS.More.
The CTV sob story is actually a bit of a toughie. First, peer review has been a problem for a long time, and the problem with journals’ integrity has been acknowledged even by Nature’s editors.
CTV, a public squawkbox based in Canada and owned by the telephone company Bell Canada Enterprises, is very late to this meeting.
Maybe the important question is whether journals are the right way to vet science any more. Some serious performers don’t think so. See, for example, Nobelist Randy Shekman boycotting Nature (2013), Another Nobelist denounces peer review (2014), and Biologists go rogue – and publish directly to the internet (2016).
Okay. We’ll see.
See also: Ioannidis again, on misleading meta-analyses We live in curious times. So many mediocrities waving pompoms for “science,” demanding “faith in science” amid a sea of scandals. Why does this remind me of the Roman Catholic Church just before the Reformation/Counter-Reformation? Hey, jathink? Duck for cover.
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