After 32 years in the lab, my feeling is that biomedical science has changed. There seems to be more emphasis on hot trends and splashy impact and less on the reproducibility and veracity of results.
The commentary by by Begley and Ellis (Nature 483, p531) really reinforced my feelings. Studies show more retractions and there is more misconduct in science. Is this a result of funding pressure and intense competition? Is this a real trend or am I just an old curmudgeon who pines for the days of yore? I would be interested in what others think about the this topic.
I agree that the number of retractions in science is in part due to funding and competition which influence a lot, however, I think that many other issues can be cited, such as the open access journal market and the introduction of new indexed journals with no relevance; a peer reviewer model that is archaic; and most important the lack of ethics...
In the other hand there is a counterculture of many websites specialized in scientific fraud such as the Retraction Watch, which expose frauds, retractions... Unfortunately, these websites are growing everyday... however cases of misconduct are more exposed...
I agree that the number of retractions in science is in part due to funding and competition which influence a lot, however, I think that many other issues can be cited, such as the open access journal market and the introduction of new indexed journals with no relevance; a peer reviewer model that is archaic; and most important the lack of ethics...
In the other hand there is a counterculture of many websites specialized in scientific fraud such as the Retraction Watch, which expose frauds, retractions... Unfortunately, these websites are growing everyday... however cases of misconduct are more exposed...
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