Andy
Retired committee member
"Science is a profession where critique is integral to the work itself. So you might think we’d all have both criticizing, and handling being on the receiving end of it, down to a fine art. But you’d be wrong – as a rather spectacular recent blowout of norms by a prominent scientist reminded us. Sociologist Robert Merton pointed out in the 1960s that scientists also rely on the acceptance and recognition of their peers, so it’s no wonder things get heated.
I spent several years moderating a high-profile forum for scientific criticism, and my position about this is still broadly similar to the one I described in PLOS Medicine in 2014: I think we need a much stronger post-publication culture in science. I’ve got some notes about that and my position in relation to this recent episode in the disclosures below this post.
Let’s get straight to my (rather wordy) cartoon guide to science criticism – and you can always just skip through the headings and cartoons."
https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2021/04/04/a-cartoon-guide-to-criticism-scientist-edition/
[This blog touches on what is discussed here, Reconciling estimates of global spread and infection fatality rates of COVID‐19: an overview of systematic evaluations, 2021, Ioannidis, but as it also covers wider issues, I've posted it as a standalone thread.]
I spent several years moderating a high-profile forum for scientific criticism, and my position about this is still broadly similar to the one I described in PLOS Medicine in 2014: I think we need a much stronger post-publication culture in science. I’ve got some notes about that and my position in relation to this recent episode in the disclosures below this post.
Let’s get straight to my (rather wordy) cartoon guide to science criticism – and you can always just skip through the headings and cartoons."
https://absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2021/04/04/a-cartoon-guide-to-criticism-scientist-edition/
[This blog touches on what is discussed here, Reconciling estimates of global spread and infection fatality rates of COVID‐19: an overview of systematic evaluations, 2021, Ioannidis, but as it also covers wider issues, I've posted it as a standalone thread.]
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