How do we identify a fake research before a journal recalls a publication?
Only by using the 6th sense
There are very few people in the world possessing such a unique ability
Thank you very much for your contribution. Would there be any physical attributes one can easily identify?
- Don’t explain their methodology or avoid technical terminology.
- Don’t indicate any limitations on the conclusions of the research. (A study on mice cannot draw firm conclusions about humans.)
- Are based on research from a journal that nobody has heard of.
In my opinion, the venue where the research is published is a pretty good indicator for "fake research". This is era of internet and fake journals/conferences can easily be caught. Apart from that there are indexing/abstracting services like ISI-WoS, Scopus etc. They update their approved journals list annually. So I think it is easy to figure out.
Thank you very much for your contribution Dr. Atta - ur - Rahman
Fake research is actually easy to spot. A distinct lack of confounders is usually the clue, along with constant positive results.
If the conclusions match the hypothesis look for the confounding variables. If they are missing it is likely that the research was rigged.
It is "research" without real etiopathogenesis! Or biochemical end clinical research based of animal experiments!
to Dmytro Leshchenko:
The references to the magazine "Odessa cabman" [never existed]
were popular among the famous scientists of the early 20th century.
And in science there should be a place for a good joke
Look at the results. In life science and biology there are no exactly perfect linear relationships. if someones results are perfect then we can raise eyebrows and investigate further.
Dear Ademolawa Michael Adedipe
Usually the fake research Don’t explain their methodology or avoid technical terminology. Don’t indicate any limitations on the conclusions of the research. (A study on mice cannot draw firm conclusions about humans.). Draw huge, sweeping conclusions from a single study (common in stories on scary chemicals and miracle vegetables.). Are based on research from a journal that nobody has heard of.
In mathematics (with reasonable peer-reviewing) it is difficult to fake research but copying is perhaps more of an issue. Sometimes, even in this age of hyper-connectedness, the authors are unaware of the original (I've been guilty of this one) but other times they are aware. Any reputable journal should run all submissions through an on-line software like TurnItIn or SimilarityCheck. It's always interesting to see the results of this kind of check.
Some reviewers aren't good enough to assess the quality of publications. In such cases, some article slip through the cracks. I have seen some articles with major errors published in reputable journals! The only way to minimize such occurrences is to find more quality and responsible reviewers.
In my experience the best way to spot fake or biased reseach is to look for the absence of confounders. It is by no means foolproof that peer review will filter out questionable research but the absence of or ignoring of obvious confounders is always an strong indicator.
Scientists sadly do this to make their results fit the hypothesis. If a confounder is likely to make your results less convincing then ignore them. A good example was the placebo study indicating Prozac was a more efficacious treatment for anxiety.
Out of the 540 subjects in the cohort 135 were also being treated with a benzodiazepine, another drug used to treat anxiety and an obvious confounder. If that group was eliminated from the cohort Prozac was no more efficacious than fresh air.
Abderrahmane.
"I do not have an answer but I ask myself: I can not understand why a researcher is doing a fake research. Why, for what?"
Money, fame and aggrandisement are strong incentives!
In regard to my specialist. It is possible to know the false paper of several things, including the selection of evaluators within the strict jurisdiction and accurate reading of the practical part and compare it with papers published in scientific journals and thus know the similarities and differences and therefore whether this paper was the results of new or not.
Very simple - the sample consisted of phantastic new "diorders" without ethiopathogenesis! Than genetic investiagation from blood samples - "polygenic" "causes"... Biochemic investigation on animal brain and other tissue in vitro... Imaging - the MR and CT scan pictures as ""diagnosis" and than farther research, statistic... Than so called "evidence base medicine" without ethilogy of clinical phenomena, ect.
Experience and dealing with plagiarism detection programs are an acceptable way to detect and reduce deception, but unfortunately, as the theft develops through history, ways of deception develop.
I respect scientific journals and master's and doctorate dissertations at universities that publicly announce the discovery of plagiarism even after publishing and withdrawing the certificate
Five Ways to Spot ‘Fake’ Research
http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/2017/09/five-ways-spot-fake-research/
The article mentions five questions on Generalization, Unbiasedness Transparency, Objective, and Ethics to identify the 'Fake' research.
Even it is an old post still Greate Post!!
Actually, reviewers must take this part of this duty. Unfortunately, now days reviewing in some country and in some journals are being as friendship. This means, there is not any process of reviewing at all, they make it publish without any kind of academic ethical review.
This is the most dangerous attitude in the process of education and civilization.
Many research is not only fake, it are not aplicable for medical practice.
It is easier to identify. Methodology will not be clear and analysis part shows clumsy data
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