DOCSLIB.ORG

Gaming the Metrics Infrastructures Series Edited by Geoffrey C

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Gaming the Metrics Infrastructures Series Edited by Geoffrey C Gaming the Metrics Infrastructures Series Edited by Geoffrey C. Bowker and Paul N. Edwards Paul N. Edwards, A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming Lawrence M. Busch, Standards: Recipes for Reality Lisa Gitelman, ed., “Raw Data” Is an Oxymoron Finn Brunton, Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet Nil Disco and Eda Kranakis, eds., Cosmopolitan Commons: Sharing Resources and Risks across Borders Casper Bruun Jensen and Brit Ross Winthereik, Monitoring Movements in Development Aid: Recursive Partnerships and Infrastructures James Leach and Lee Wilson, eds., Subversion, Conversion, Development: Cross- Cultural Knowledge Exchange and the Politics of Design Olga Kuchinskaya, The Politics of Invisibility: Public Knowledge about Radiation Health Effects after Chernobyl Ashley Carse, Beyond the Big Ditch: Politics, Ecology, and Infrastructure at the Panama Canal Alexander Klose, translated by Charles Marcrum II, The Container Principle: How a Box Changes the Way We Think Eric T. Meyer and Ralph Schroeder, Knowledge Machines: Digital Transformations of the Sciences and Humanities Sebastián Ureta, Assembling Policy: Transantiago, Human Devices, and the Dream of a World-Class Society Geoffrey C. Bowker, Stefan Timmermans, Adele E. Clarke, and Ellen Balka, eds., Boundary Objects and Beyond: Working with Leigh Star Clifford Siskin, System: The Shaping of Modern Knowledge Lawrence Busch, Knowledge for Sale: The Neoliberal Takeover of Higher Education Bill Maurer and Lana Swartz, Paid: Tales of Dongles, Checks, and Other Money Stuff Dietmar Offenhuber, Waste Is Information: Infrastructure Legibility and Governance Katayoun Shafiee, Machineries of Oil: An Infrastructural History of BP in Iran Megan Finn, Documenting Aftermath: Information Infrastructures in the Wake of Disasters Laura Watts, Energy at the End of the World: An Orkney Islands Saga Ann M. Pendleton- Jullian and John Seely Brown, Design Unbound: Designing for Emer- gence in a White Water World, Volume 1: Designing for Emergence Ann M. Pendleton- Jullian and John Seely Brown, Design Unbound: Designing for Emer- gence in a White Water World, Volume 2: Ecologies of Change Jordan Frith, A Billion Little Pieces: RFID and Infrastructures of Identification Morgan G. Ames, The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop Per Child Mario Biagioli and Alexandra Lippman, Gaming the Metrics: Misconduct and Manipulation in Academic Research Malcolm McCullough, Downtime on the Microgrid: Architecture, Electricity, and Smart City Islands Emmanuel Didier, translated by Priya Vari Sen, America by the Numbers: Quantification, Democracy, and the Birth of National Statistics Ryan Ellis, Letters, Power Lines, and Other Dangerous Things: The Politics of Infrastructure Security Gaming the Metrics Misconduct and Manipulation in Academic Research Edited by Mario Biagioli and Alexandra Lippman The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology This work is subject to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license. Subject to such license, all rights are reserved. This title is freely available as an open access edition thanks to the TOME initiative and the generous support of the University of California, Davis. Learn more at openmonographs.org. This book was set in Sabon by Westchester Publishing Services. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Biagioli, Mario, 1946- editor. | Lippman, Alexandra, editor. Title: Gaming the metrics : misconduct and manipulation in academic research / edited by Mario Biagioli and Alexandra Lippman. Description: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, [2020] | Series: Infrastructures | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019010150 | ISBN 9780262537933 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Scholarly publishing—Corrupt practices. | Learning and scholarship—Corrupt practices. | Research—Corrupt practices. | Communication in learning and scholarship—Moral and ethical aspects. Classification: LCC Z286.S37 G36 2020 | DDC 070.5—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019010150 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Introduction: Metrics and the New Ecologies of Academic Misconduct 1 Mario Biagioli and Alexandra Lippman I Beyond and Before Metrics 25 1 Gaming Metrics Before the Game: Citation and the Bureaucratic Virtuoso 31 Alex Csiszar 2 The Transformation of the Scientific Paper: From Knowledge to Accounting Unit 43 Yves Gingras 3 Playing and Being Played by the Research Impact Game 57 Michael Power 4 The Mismeasurement of Quality and Impact 67 Paul Wouters 5 Taking Goodhart’s Law Meta: Gaming, Meta- Gaming, and Hacking Academic Performance Metrics 77 James Griesemer II Collaborative Manipulations 89 6 Global University Rankings: Impacts and Applications 93 Barbara M. Kehm 7 Predatory Publishing and the Imperative of International Productivity: Feeding Off and Feeding Up the Dominant 101 Sarah de Rijcke and Tereza Stöckelová vi Contents 8 Pressures to Publish: What Effects Do We See? 111 Daniele Fanelli 9 Ghost- Managing and Gaming Pharmaceutical Knowledge 123 Sergio Sismondo III Interventions: Notes from the Field 135 10 Retraction Watch: What We’ve Learned and How Metrics Play a Role 141 Ivan Oransky 11 PubPeer: Scientific Assessment Without Metrics 149 Boris Barbour and Brandon M. Stell 12 The Voinnet Affair: Testing the Norms of Scientific Image Management 157 Catherine Guaspare and Emmanuel Didier 13 Crossing the Line: Pseudonyms and Snark in Post- Publication Peer Review 169 Paul S. Brookes 14 Ike Antkare, His Publications, and Those of His Disciples 177 Ike Antkare 15 Fake Scientists on Editorial Boards Can Significantly Enhance the Visibility of Junk Journals 201 Burkhard Morgenstern 16 Altmetrics Gaming: Beast Within or Without? 213 Jennifer Lin 17 Why We Could Stop Worrying About Gaming Metrics If We Stopped Using Journal Articles for Publishing Scientific Research 229 Elizabeth Wager IV Mimicry for Parody or Profit 237 18 Making People and Influencing Friends: Citation Networks and the Appearance of Significance 243 Finn Brunton 19 Crack Open the Make Believe: Counterfeit, Publication Ethics, and the Global South 251 Marie- Andrée Jacob Contents vii 20 Fake Archives: The Search for Openness in Scholarly Communication Platforms 261 Alessandro Delfanti 21 Humor, Hoaxes, and Software in the Search for Academic Misconduct 271 Alexandra Lippman Acknowledgments 283 Contributors 285 Index 287 Introduction: Metrics and the New Ecologies of Academic Misconduct Mario Biagioli and Alexandra Lippman Traditionally, the assumption has been that academic misconduct emerges primarily in response to “publish or perish” pressures. Robert Slutsky, a UC San Diego cardiologist famously caught in 1986 reporting imagi- nary experiments, was, at one point, putting out one article every ten days (Lock and Wells, 2001). “Publish or perish,” however, is no longer the sole incentive for misconduct. New practices are emerging that are not limited to the production of fraudulent publications but are aimed instead at enhancing, often in unethical or fraudulent ways, the evalua- tion of their importance or “impact” (Biagioli, 2016). “Publish or perish” is merging with “impact or perish.”1 This is related to but different from the predictable gaming of aca- demic performance indicators one would expect from Goodhart’s law: as soon as an indicator becomes a target, gaming ensues, which fore- closes its ability to function as a good indicator.2 That may take the form, for instance, of massaging the definition of what counts as a “success- ful student” in metrics about schools’ performance, or of what counts as a “peer- reviewed” paper in faculty evaluation protocols. It could also involve aligning one’s practices to metrics-relevant parameters, like cap- ping classes’ enrollment to nineteen students to have them fit theUS News and World Report’s definition of “small class,” which is rewarded in its ranking of universities. But we now find authors and editors who move beyond this kind of gaming to create (rather than tweak) metric- enhancing evidence, such as citations to one’s work or to the work pub- lished in a given journal so as to boost its impact factor. We argue that the growing reliance on institutional metrics of evaluation does not just provide incentives for these kinds of manipulations, but also creates their conditions of possibility. They would not have come into being were it not for the new metrics- based “audit culture” of academia (Power, 1997; Strathern, 2000; Burrows, 2012). 2 Mario Biagioli and Alexandra Lippman Beyond Truth and Falsehood: Innovation in Manipulation As shown by the US federal definition, misconduct is construed in epis- temic terms: fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism.3 Accordingly, mis- conduct is equated to producing false statements like making up data, fudging data, and faking authorship—false statements within a publica- tion. Traditional fraud and misconduct continue to exist, and these defini- tions may be suitable to describe them. What they fail to grasp, however, are the new forms of manipulation that do not affect the epistemic status of a publication but take place around and outside the claims them- selves like, for example, submitting fake peer reviews (often to publish in a higher impact factor journal than the article would have probably deserved), hacking journal databases (to manipulate the acceptance of one’s article or to insert one’s name in the authors’ byline of an article already in press), setting
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Impact of External Whistleblowers on Uncovering Corruption: a Comparative Study
    The Impact of External Whistleblowers on Uncovering Corruption: A Comparative Study Carmen Apaza PhD Candidate of Public Administration and Policy School of Public Affairs American University [email protected] Yongjin Chang PhD Candidate of Public Administration and Policy School of Public Affairs American University [email protected] Work in progress – please do not cite Paper to be presented to Ethics and Integrity of Governance European Group of Public Administration Rotherdam, Netherlands September, 2008 The Impact of External Whistleblowers on Uncovering Corruption: A Comparative Study Carmen Apaza & Yongjin Chang1 Abstract Through an original comparative framework as well as archival and pattern matching research methodology, this paper analyzes two important whistleblowing cases in Peru and South Korea. The study finds strong evidence to conclude that external whistlebowing is effective, mass media is a valuable tool for external whistleblowers, powerful allies and strong evidences are crucial factors for making whistle-blowing process easier, and external whistle- blowing works out even in the absence of sufficient legal protection. Nevertheless external whistleblowers experience severe retaliation when there is no proper legal protection. The findings of this study suggest that whistle-blowing is a crucial instrument to improve government accountability and transparency. Hence, it should be considered beyond national boundaries. 1 Both authors are equally contributed to write this paper. 2 Introduction Whistleblowing can be defined as a disclosure of information by an employee or contractor who alleges willful misconduct carried out by an individual or group of individuals within an organiztion (Figg 2000). A whistleblower is a valuable information source that the government or the public cannot get from any oversight systems, because they are insiders of the organizations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Carnage of Substandard Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Call for Quality Katrina a Bramstedt ‍ 1,2
    Brief report J Med Ethics: first published as 10.1136/medethics-2020-106494 on 1 October 2020. Downloaded from The carnage of substandard research during the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for quality Katrina A Bramstedt 1,2 1Luxembourg Agency for ABSTRACT issued (tables 2 and 3).ii The source of most of these Research Integrity, Esch- sur- Worldwide there are currently over 1200 research studies incidents is Asia (n=19; 57.6%), with China the Alzette, Luxembourg 2 largest Asian subgroup (n=11; 57.9%). For three Bond University Faculty of being performed on the topic of COVID-19. Many of Health Sciences and Medicine, these involve children and adults over age 65 years. papers, the reason for the removal is unknown; Gold Coast, Queensland, There are also numerous studies testing investigational however, for the others, a range of problems Australia vaccines on healthy volunteers. No research team exist, including data falsification, methodological is exempt from the pressures and speed at which concerns, and concerns about interpretation of data Correspondence to COVID-19 research is occurring. And this can increase and conclusions, as well as authorship and research Professor Katrina A Bramstedt, participant privacy issues (table 4). To date, there Bond University Faculty of the risk of honest error as well as misconduct. To date, Health Sciences and Medicine, 33 papers have been identified as unsuitable for public have been no identified reports of plagiarism or Gold Coast, Queensland, use and either retracted, withdrawn, or noted with data fabrication. Another paper, a preprint from the Australia; concern. Asia is the source of most of these manuscripts USA about COVID-19 antibody seroprevalence, has txbioethics@ yahoo.
    [Show full text]
  • MOX Data Fabrication: Lack of Regulatory Ability Exposed
    TOKYO March/April NUKE INFO 2000 Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center No. 76 3F Kotobuki Bldg., 1-58-15, Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0003, JAPAN URL: http://www.jca.apc.org/cnic/ e-mail : [email protected] MOX Data Fabrication: Lack of Regulatory Ability Exposed (Left) Protest against MOX utilization. (Right) X-ray photo of rejected BNFL fuel rods (source: Kansai Electric) The criticality accident at Tokai last fall Plant (PWR) on Oct. 1, the day after the demonstrated the inherent risks of nuclear JCO accident. Data fabrication by BNFL energy, and forced Japan to review its was revealed on Sep. 19, after the ship had nuclear power policies. Shortly before, left the British port, by an article in the UK and soon after, this worst-ever accident in newspaper, The Independent, which was Japan's nuclear history on Sep. 30, 1999, based on inside information. Kansai Elec- MOX fuel manufactured at British Nuclear tric announced that it had postponed the Fuels plc (BNFL) and Belgonuclaire arrived loading of MOX fuel into Takahama 3 on in Japan. It was later revealed that data CONTENTS for the quality control of the BNFL fuel had NII report on MOX data fabrication 1-2 been falsified. Plans for nuclear plant canceled 3 The ships carrying MOX fuel left Europe Aging and decommisioning of reactors 4-7 in mid-July and delivered 32 assemblies to STA's dose evaluation of JCO accident 8 Tokyo Electric's Fukushima I plant (BWR) Latest on Rokkasho facilities 9 on the eastern side of Japan on Sep.
    [Show full text]
  • General Guidelines for Academic Integrity Report (Amended Version)
    General Guidelines for Academic Integrity Report (amended version) 9/23/2019 Erasmus+ project “European Network for Academic Integrity” Loreta TAUGINIENĖ Milan OJSTERŠEK Tomáš FOLTÝNEK Franca MARINO Marco COSENTINO Inga GAIŽAUSKAITĖ Irene GLENDINNING Shiva SIVASUBRAMANIAM Salim RAZI Laura RIBEIRO Tatjana ODIŅECA Oliver TREVISIOL This publication refers to a sub-output of the project “European Network for Academic Integrity”, funded under Erasmus Plus, Strategic Partnerships (agreement No. 016-1- CZ01-KA203-023949). It is available for download at the project website http://www.academicintegrity.eu/wp/. Project coordinator: Contact regarding the report: Tomáš Foltýnek Mendel University in Brno (Czech Republic) Inga Gaižauskaitė E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Project consortium: HOW TO CITE ISO 690 Tauginienė, L, Ojsteršek, M, Foltýnek, T, Marino, F, Cosentino, M, Gaižauskaitė, I, Glendinning, I, Sivasubramaniam, S, Razi, S, Ribeiro, L, Odiņeca, T., Trevisiol, O. General Guidelines for Academic Integrity. ENAI Report 3A [online], first publication date: October 2018, amended version: September 2019. Publication history: Version 1.0 October 2018. Version 1.1 September 2019. 1 ABOUT THE PROJECT The project “European Network for Academic Integrity” (ENAI) aims foremost to raise awareness in the matters of plagiarism, academic ethics, scholarly values and academic integrity. ENAI focuses not only on students, but on the entire academic community (including professors, researchers, post-docs, PhDs, administration staff and management, academic ethics committees, etc.). This project envisages developing three major outputs: Educational materials for higher education institutions’ teachers and students (O1), Toolkit for cross-sector cooperation in terms of academic integrity (O2) and Handbook for improvements in academic integrity (O3).
    [Show full text]
  • Open Science Saves Lives: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic [V1 to V2 Differences]
    Open Science Saves Lives: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic [V1 to V2 differences] Lonni Besançon ID 1,2*, Nathan Peiffer-Smadja ID 3,4, Corentin Segalas ID 5, Haiting Jiang6, Paola Masuzzo ID 7, Cooper Smout ID 7, Eric Billy8, Maxime Deforet ID 9+ and Clémence Leyrat ID 5,10+ 1Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia 2Media and Information Technology, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden 3Université de Paris, IAME, INSERM, F-75018 Paris, France 4National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom 5Department of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom 6School of Health Policy and Management, Nanjing Medical University, No.101 Longmian Avenue, Nanjing 211166, P.R.China. 7IGDORE, Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education 8Chercheur immuno-oncologie, Strasbourg, France 9Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine (IBPS), Laboratoire Jean Perrin (LJP), F-75005, Paris, France 10Inequalities in Cancer Outcomes Network, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom *[email protected] +these authors contributed equally to this work Abstract In the last decade Open Science principles have been successfully advocated for and are being slowly adopted in different research communities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic many publishers and researchers have sped up their adoption of some of these Open Science practices, sometimes embracing them fully and sometimes partially or in a sub-optimal manner. In this article, we express concerns about the violation of some of the Open Science principles and its potential impact on the quality of research output.
    [Show full text]
  • A Narrative on the Fabrication of Results in Science
    GENERAL ARTICLES A narrative on the fabrication of results in science João Freitas*, Dulce Esteves and Henrique Neiva Data fabrication is an act of scientific misconduct that affects its transparency and veracity. In this study we identify the main data fabrication problems in scientific research and suggest prevention methodologies. This article is a narrative review of the major articles in fabrication of results in science. The results of this review provide the knowledge that fabrication cases come from most diverse scientific fields. Currently, there is more pressure on scientists to publish. As a result, several studies now report on data fabrication in research. State laws and research ethics committees strengthen relationships to criminalize this type of misconduct that usurps state funds. This study dis- cusses the controversies and complexities of data fabrication in scientific research. Ethics commit- tees must continue their efforts to prevent data fabrication, thus contributing to scientific transparency. Keywords: Criminalization, data fabrication, scientific misconduct, transparency. SCIENTIFIC misconduct does not stop with a decline in Current data show that, the success rate of eligible pro- morality and increase in competition in obtaining posals in the Universities for the year 2015 was only research funds. Instead, very well structured, accusations 14%; as governments decrease funding, the pressure on of scientific misconduct, stand in the history of universities to obtain funding from other sources increas- science itself from ancient Greece to the present day1. es, including the UE and the private sector13. Although the respective federal agencies nuclearize the Data fraud can have four types of external effects14. It concept of scientific conduct to review and disseminate can damage the career of colleagues and students, who research, experts have a more popular view2.
    [Show full text]
  • Safeguarding Academic Integrity
    education sciences Article Online Delivery and Assessment during COVID-19: Safeguarding Academic Integrity Kelum A.A. Gamage 1 , Erandika K. de Silva 2,* and Nanda Gunawardhana 3 1 James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK; [email protected] 2 Department of Linguistics and English, University of Jaffna, Ramanathan Road Thirunelvely, Jaffna P.O. Box 57, Sri Lanka 3 Learning and Teaching Research Group, Sri Lanka Technological Campus, Padukka 10500, Sri Lanka; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 21 September 2020; Accepted: 22 October 2020; Published: 25 October 2020 Abstract: Globally, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise daily despite strict measures being adopted by many countries. Consequently, universities closed down to minimise the face-to-face contacts, and the majority of the universities are now conducting degree programmes through online delivery. Remote online delivery and assessment are novel experiences for many universities, which presents many challenges, particularly when safeguarding academic integrity. For example, invigilated assessments, often considered as more secure, are not an option given the current situation and detecting any cheating would be significantly challenging. This paper reviews assessment security in the digital domain and critically evaluates the practices from different universities in safeguarding academic integrity, including associated challenges. Keywords: academic integrity; COVID-19; remote learning and teaching 1. Introduction Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in order to contain the spread of the virus. These closures impact over 60% of the world’s student population [1].
    [Show full text]
  • Excerpts of Semiannual Reports to Congress
    OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL SEMIANNUAL REPORT THE CONGRESS Number 1 April 1, 1989 Septernber 30, 1989 National Science Foundation Scientist Censured An assistant scientist with a northwest research institute agreed for Misrepresenting to be declared ineligible for funding as a principal investigator Preliminary after an internal review committee convened by his research in- stitute found a pattern of repeated misrepresentation of data in , Scientific Findings his proposals for research support. The grant application, which in Grant Application was also submitted to the National Institutes of Health was the scientist's independent attempt at obtaining federal funds for his research program. An inquiry was initiated after Foundation staff, who were evaluating the scientist's proposal for funding, discovered ap- parent misrepresentations of preliminary data in photomicro- graphs and reported the inconsistencies to the OIG. An initial inquiry conducted by at the scientist's research in- stitution a formal investigation of the matter. An internal review committee convened by the scientist's re- search institute agreed unanimously that a pattern of repeated misrepresentation of data was apparent, suggesting serious mis- conduct by the scientist his inability to meet the profes- standards and quality expected of a scientist with the he possessed. The scientist was provided an oppor- tunity to respond both to the internal review committee's find- ings and proposal to censure him by declaring him ineligible for funding as a principal investigator for a period of five years. While denying wrongdoing or guilt, the scientist ad- mitted to carelessness in preparing the grant applications which he to personal problems and poor laboratory ad- practices.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is New and True 1 About Fake News?
    1 WHAT IS NEW AND TRUE1 ABOUT FAKE NEWS? Rainer Greifeneder, Mariela E. Jaffé, Eryn J. Newman, and Norbert Schwarz Following Brexit and the 2016 US presidential campaign, the Oxford Diction- ary selected “post-truth” as the Word of the Year 2016, which the dictionary defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (Oxford-Dictionary, 2016). A year later, the Collins Dictionary desig- nated “fake news” as the Collins Word of the Year 2017 in response to a 365% increase in its usage in the Collins corpus of the English language (Collins- Dictionary, 2017). As the dissemination of fake news flourished and became a topic of public discourse and concern, designating something as fake news became another tool in the repertoire of political propaganda. From US presi- dent Donald Trump accusing journalists and mainstream media of spreading fake news about him (e.g., Pengelly, 2017) to the mainstream media tracking fake news spread by Donald Trump (Kessler, Rizzo, & Kelly, 2019), and the German party AFD (Alternative für Deutschland) returning to the Nazi term Lgenpresse (lying press) to describe mainstream media, accusations of spreading fake news has become a daily occurrence. Against the background of this gen- eral climate, the present volume presents insights into fake news from multiple scientific disciplines and perspectives. What is fake news and what is misinformation? Fake news can be defined as “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting” (Collins-Dictionary, 2017). Analyses of Google searches indicate that, prior to 2016, the term was used to locate satirical news, as offered by the satirical print magazine The Onion and the satirical tele- vision show The Daily Show.
    [Show full text]
  • Research Practices and Assessment of Research Misconduct Chris H.J
    SOR-SOCSCI Research practices and assessment of research misconduct Chris H.J. Hartgerink* and Jelte M. Wicherts Department of Methodology and Statistics, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands *Corresponding author’s e-mail address: [email protected] Published online: 2 August 2016 (version 1) Cite as: Hartgerink and Wicherts. ScienceOpen Research 2016 (DOI: 10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-SOCSCI.ARYSBI.v1) Reviewing status: The review of this article was author-mediated. The ScienceOpen editorial office has verified and confirmed the identities of the reviewers. The endorsement statement and reviewers names are provided below. The article is also available for continuous post-publication peer review on its dedicated ScienceOpen homepage. Peer Review by Endorsement Statement: “I have read this article, given feedback to the authors and now feel that it is of appropriate quality to be included in the scientific literature and be part of the open scientific discourse.” Prof. Dr. Bjoern Brembs Dr. Brian Nosek Professor of Neurogenetics, Institute of Zoology Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia Universität Regensburg, 2012-present Executive Director, Center for Open Science Primary discipline: General social science Secondary discipline: Applied ethics, General behavioral science, Ethics, Applied probability & Statistics Keywords transparency, research misconduct, questionable research practices, responsible research, data fabrication ABSTRACT can be improved, and how prevalent it might be. Institutions This article discusses the responsible conduct of research, could facilitate detection of data fabrication and falsification questionable research practices, and research misconduct. by implementing data auditing. Nonetheless, the effect of Responsible conduct of research is often defined in terms of a misconduct is pervasive: many retracted articles are still cited set of abstract, normative principles, professional standards, after the retraction has been issued.
    [Show full text]
  • Use and Misuse of Data in Advocacy, Media and Opinion Polls in Africa: Realities, Challenges and Opportunities
    Journal of Development and Communication Studies Vol. 3. No. 2, July-December, 2014. ISSN (Online & Print ): 2305-7432. http://www.devcomsjournalmw.org. ___________________________________________________________________________ Use and misuse of Data in Advocacy, Media and Opinion Polls in Africa: Realities, Challenges and Opportunities Adebayo Fayoyin (PhD) UNFPA, East and Southern Africa Region, Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: [email protected] & Emmanuel Ngwainmbi (PhD) Senior International Communication Consultant. Email: [email protected] Abstract This article offers a reflective perspective of the uses and misuses of data and statistics in public communication and development as a construct of democracy. It begins by situating data use in light of the “big data” revolution characterised by devolution and globalisation of information. Drawing on illustrations from advocacy, journalism and political corruption, the article demonstrates that despite the positive uses of data by activists and journalists, the dissemination of incorrect data has grave consequences for public opinion formation and digital social engagement. From the analysis, the article argues that generators, users and recipients of data need a mind-set for data accuracy and fact-checking, especially in a digital age which is a mine-field for mass misinformation. It calls for more training in data journalism, alignment of data in the public sector and increased responsibility for data generating institutions and fact checking organisations. Finally, we advocate for stricter regulation of election opinion polls to avoid misinformation and manipulation of the electorate, which has serious consequences for democracy in Africa. Keywords: data revolution, data journalism, data for development, public communication, misinformation, public opinion Introduction Data are an important resource in achieving development and democratic outcomes, yet they are often misused.
    [Show full text]
  • False Beliefs: Byproducts of an Adaptive Knowledge Base? 131 Elizabeth J
    “This volume provides a great entry point into the vast and growing psycho- logical literature on one of the defining problems of the early 21st century – fake news and its dissemination. The chapters by leading scientists first focus on how (false) information spreads online and then examine the cognitive processes involved in accepting and sharing (false) information. The volume concludes by reviewing some of the available countermeasures. Anyone new to this area will find much here to satisfy their curiosity.” – Stephan Lewandowsky , Cognitive Science, University of Bristol, UK “Fake news is a serious problem for politics, for science, for journalism, for con- sumers, and, really, for all of us. We now live in a world where fact and fiction are intentionally blurred by people who hope to deceive us. In this tremendous collection, four scientists have gathered together some of the finest minds to help us understand the problem, and to guide our thinking about what can be done about it. The Psychology of Fake News is an important and inspirational contribu- tion to one of society’s most vexing problem.” – Elizabeth F Loftus , Distinguished Professor, University of California, Irvine, USA “This is an interesting, innovative and important book on a very significant social issue. Fake news has been the focus of intense public debate in recent years, but a proper scientific analysis of this phenomenon has been sorely lacking. Con- tributors to this excellent volume are world-class researchers who offer a detailed analysis of the psychological processes involved in the production, dissemina- tion, interpretation, sharing, and acceptance of fake news.
    [Show full text]