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Amazing Results

In academia, the competition for grant money and prominent journal publication breeds exaggeration as to the importance of research programs, their past successes, and their future chances. The worst of these cross over the line into fraud, some of which makes the headlines, but even the honest stuff (the huge majority) is best-foot-forward all the time. You learn, after a short time doing research yourself, to mentally adjust for the titles of papers, presentations, and (most especially) press releases.

Derek Lowe reminds us of a basic and abiding truth behind many of the posts on this blog, and other blogs, like Health Care Renewal and Retraction Watch: The system’s pretty well rigged against strict research integrity, a fact that endangers universities in particular and everyone’s health in general.

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UPDATE: A Case in Point.

Brown’s cozy friendship with pharmaceutical companies should concern every one of us. The University’s failure to launch a public investigation into Keller’s research threatens the integrity of other research coming from Brown. Not only does it discredit Brown’s integrity as a research university, but it also threatens patient safety since doctors are misinformed about the negative side-effects of drugs they are prescribing. The University should be devoted to researching medicine for the sake of benefiting humanity, not corporate profits.

An eloquent opinion piece by a Brown University undergrad revisits the ongoing scandal of Martin Keller. Background here.

UD thanks Roy.

Margaret Soltan, March 15, 2012 6:51AM
Posted in: march of science

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One Response to “Amazing Results”

  1. adam Says:

    As the legendary Barney Carroll put it, the name of the game is to keep the game going.

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Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
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