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Editor's Choice -- Ismaili Digest -- Why Editors of peer reviewed journals say most published papers are "just plain wrong or nonsense" Peer Review. The very words conjure up a spiritual sacredness and authority that no one dare challenge. But is that stamp of authority worthy of uncritical worship? Are peer reviewed journals a fortress against pseudo-science and superstition, store houses of "reliable facts?" Editors of the most prestigious peer reviewed journals don't think so. Richard Smith, who edited the British Medical Journal for more than a decade, claimed that "most of what is published in journals is just plain wrong or nonsense." And Dr Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, wrote in an editorial that "much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue" Attempts to replicate published results, in almost all fields, have failed miserably and now known as "replication crisis". In 2007, Mawlana Hazar Imam said "A wise observer once said, it's not so much what we don't know that hurts us, but also all those things that we are sure we know -- but which are just not so." We hope this collection of articles, from Ismaili Digest's "Off The Beaten Track" section, helps the jamat understand this issue better and how it impacts them every day without realizing it. Warm regards,
Ismaili Digest |
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Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science
THEATLANTIC.COM -- Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong. So why are doctors--to a striking extent--still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice? Dr. John Ioannidis [Professor of Medicine, of Health Research and Policy and of Statistics at Stanford] has spent his career challenging his peers by exposing their bad science.... To say that Ioannidis's work has been embraced would be an understatement.... Last year he received, by his estimate, invitations to speak at 1,000 conferences and institutions around the world ...
Continued Here » http://isma.li/Cwf2xH
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Cancer Research Is Broken
SLATE.COM -- We face a replication crisis in the field of biomedicine, not unlike in psychology but with far more dire implications. The former head of cancer research at Amgen, Glenn Begley, said, in 2012, Amgen tried to replicate the findings of 53 "landmark" studies in cancer biology. Just 6 of them (11%) came up with positive results. He blames these failures on some systematic problems in the literature, not just in cancer research but all of biomedicine. In 2011, a team from Bayer had reported that only 20% to 25% of the studies they tried to reproduce came to results "completely in line" with those of the original publications. ...
Continued Here » http://isma.li/RGac2e
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Why Citing a Scientific Study Does Not Finish An Argument
QUILLETTE.COM -- "Actually Studies Show..." Chances are you've found yourself in a heated conversation among a group of friends, family, or colleagues when someone throws down the gauntlet: "Actually, studies show..." Some nod in silent agreement, others check their text messages, and finally someone changes the subject. It's hard to know what to say when people cite scientific studies to prove their point. ...
Continued Here » http://isma.li/A6PvHS
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What Is the Purpose of Peer Review?
HETERODOXACADEMY.ORG -- In some fields, political posturing often seems indistinguishable from scholarship, unpopular ideas are made to disappear, and researchers who deign to challenge orthodoxy are mobbed.... The result is watered-down research, stifled creativity, and groupthink.... If we think of a scientific article as a mini-theory, then rigorous confirmation can be achieved only by surviving the scrutiny of many readers over a period of time. In this light, the way in which scientific journals evaluate research -- a one-time assessment by a small number of reviewers -- is unscientific, and has proven unreliable ... Indeed, findings published in the most prestigious scientific journals, including Science and Nature, have been shown to replicate at a rate only slightly better than 50%. ...
Continued Here » http://isma.li/rJBIWp
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Off The Beaten Track, Tuesday's Teachings (From Life), Wednesday Wisdom and Monday Madness (@ Ismaili Digest)
These departments of Ismaili Digest were inspired by Hazar Imam's advice to continuously re-examine and expand our viewpoints and perspectives. He said, "knowledge is constantly changing, must ever be challenged and extended" and that we must "constantly review and revise and renew what we think we know." If Hazar Imam's advice resonates with you, then OTBT, TT and WW are for you. In our first year we posted almost 300 videos, articles and quotes of little-known, unconventional, even controversial, knowledge, opinions, wisdom and insights, drawn from all of humanity, relevant to the community's well-being, intellectual growth, best practices and administration. As for Monday Madness, that's your Monday morning smile because "we are a community that welcomes the smile!"
Continued Here » http://isma.li/wmepeG
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Think of Ismaili Digest as the Front Page of all the best Ismaili websites! Ismaili Digest automatically and continuously brings together all new articles, photos, videos, etc. from Ismaili websites -- like The Ismaili, Simerg, IIS, NanoWisdoms, AKDN, Ismailimail, etc. -- so you can see them all at once. Direct links to over 10,000 web-pages from the best Ismaili websites already available. Ismaili Digest saves you (and those who are not tech savvy, such as seniors) the effort of having to visit them one by one to keep up to date, or have your inbox cluttered with emails from each of them when they publish new content. In a busy world, our sense of belonging to our community can wither or fade (particularly with isolated Jamati members). So we hope the simplicity of Ismaili Digest will change this for you. Like many other non-commercial, public-service thematic website aggregators, Ismaili Digest is just a thematic aggregator. We publish short 50-60 word digests of all their content and provide direct links to their original pages saving you time, extra page loads and clicks. For the website publishers, direct links ensure they'll get the maximum number of potential visitors reaching their content so their hard work gets the maximum exposure. Also featured are other important articles, research and opinions relevant to the community's well being, intellectual growth, best practises and administration. And all served with a drop of humour as well, because "we are a community that welcomes the smile!" Ismaili Digest is not associated with any private Ismaili website, whether aggregated by Ismaili Digest or not. All websites Ismaili Digest aggregates are independent websites run by their individual owners and we are not responsible for content they publish. |
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