What’s the point of evidence? It’s to gain knowledge, so that we can treat our patients better. But what happens when the data is wrong, faked, misleading, or simply made up?
Retraction Watch (www.retractionwatch.com, and @retractionwatch) collates retractions from journals around the world. Their database makes terrifying reading: tens of thousands of papers which have been retracted are all listed, including hundreds of COVID papers. Individual authors have a “leaderboard” (loserboard?) headed by someone with an incredible 194 retractions.
We were lucky enough to speak to Ivan Oransky, one of the leaders of Retraction Watch. It’s a terrifying conversation, where he lays bare the outright fraud in medical publishing.
However, all fraud has drivers and motivations. Why are people pushed towards these staggering opportunities for fraud? Where, or what are the solutions?
Anyone working in medicine can learn from this podcast. Thank you to the Retraction Watch team: please keep up the incredible work.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download