Validating scientific research

The New York Times reported earlier this year that the number of published scientific articles that were retracted by journals has increased over the years.  The articles were withdrawn due to false claims or errors in research data.

The Reproducibility Initiative was recently launched to improve the quality of preclinical biological research.  According to its website, “the Reproducibility Initiative is a new program to help scientists validate studies for publication or commercialization. Simply submit your study, and we’ll match you to one of our 1000+ expert providers for validation. Validations are conducted blind, on a fee-for-service basis.”

Image from Microsoft Office Clipart

Putting Scientific Information to Work in 1972

I love this cartoon about the exchange of information between scientists, from word of mouth and written letters, to the first scientific journals and, some time later, information overload. Forty years after this was created we are still plagued with a growing number of science and technology journals and are challenged with making full use of the literature.

One of the strategies in the 1960s from the mind of Eugene Garfield and the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was to cover a selective but important portion of the world’s journals.

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