In his year-end review of bogus research, Gary Marcus notes endemic cheating in scientific studies and lists six ways to fix the problem. Each approach makes sense – do something about publish or perish, establish an ethical code, encourage insiders to police the work in their field…
But for some reason, Marcus omits the biggest problem of all: pharma. The staggering financial incentives for colluding with corporations and their ghost writers make an incentive like tenure look paltry.
******************
UD thanks Dirk.
******************
UPDATE: And don’t forget this problem.
January 8th, 2013 at 6:06PM
Big Pharma. Beneath an article on the Piltdown Man hoax, one commentor nominated American prescription pharmaceuticals as the greatest scientific hoax of the 20th/21st century. (Don’t have the reference handy.)