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Top journal "Science" says more than 2,600 of its papers may have ‘exaggerated claims’
Just The News ^ | 08/23/2023 | Addison Smith

Posted on 08/23/2023 8:29:45 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

A non-profit watchdog reported that the AAAS has received millions of dollars per year from the federal government. The AAAS publication "Science" is reviewing 2,600 of its own articles for possible "exaggeration."

A top international science journal funded by the federal government recently acknowledged that thousands of its published research papers may contain misleading language.

More than 2,600 of the papers from "Science," the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and one of the world's top academic journals, were examined in depth by another research journal, "Scientometrics." It found in a study that from 1997 to 2021, the use of "hedging" words have fallen by about 40%.

The study’s co-author and Nanjing University linguist Ying Wei said this revelation ought to be concerning because "essentially, the nature of academic knowledge is indeterminate."

In academic writing, "hedging" means using cautious language (i.e., "could" or "appear to") to avoid sounding overconfident and giving readers a misleading conclusion.

In 1997, there were about 115.8 hedging examples per 10,000 words. But by 2021, there were only 67.42 for the same amount.

Science’s news division highlighted this study of its research, and said that the reduction in hedging, according to some, "suggests a worrisome rise of unreliable, exaggerated claims."

According to the non-profit Influence Watch, "the federal government is the largest identifiable source of funding for AAAS," giving it $3.3 million annually between 2008 – 2017, not counting other grants it has received. Science was first published in 1880 with seed money from Thomas Edison.

Continuing, the journal group said "less hedging may reflect a subtle strategy by authors to sell their results to editors and readers as an alternative to explicit exaggeration," according to the study.

In 2020, AAAS highlighted several scientists who steadfastly insisted that questions regarding Covid-19 coming from the Wuhan lab was merely "a conspiracy theory." AAAS also repeatedly promoted Covid-19 vaccinations.

Social psychologist Melissa Wheeler reacted to the study’s findings, warning that prudence in academic research is "vital to communicating what one’s data can actually say and what it merely implies."

"If academic writing becomes more about the rhetoric ... it will become more difficult for readers to decipher what is groundbreaking and truly novel."

A research journal from 2015 published by the British Medical Association's weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, (BMA), found similar results, stating that "scientific abstracts are currently written with more positive and negative words," which means "apparently scientists look on the bright side of research results. But whether this perception fits reality should be questioned."

Despite the significant decline in hedging, Science denies that this has necessarily led to less reliable evidence. Instead, executive editor Valda Vinsion stated in the report that it may be due to authors being asked to provide additional supporting information.

"We tone down language if it comes across as definitive when [the evidence] is not," she said.

Science associate news editor Jeffrey Brainard declined to comment when reached by Just the News.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aaas; antarctic; antarctica; ecoterrorism; ecoterrorists; exagerration; exaggerated; fakescience; fakesciencepapers; fraudulent; globalwarminghoax; greenland; greennewdeal; papers; pseudoscience; science; scientometrics
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To: Pete Dovgan

Yep. And claiming that model projections are actual “evidence.” Lot of problems with the science literature these days. Rather like the old Soviet model: , whatever fits the party line is science.


21 posted on 08/23/2023 9:11:47 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: fwdude

Peer review worked pretty well, once upon a time. Author submits a paper, editors assign it to review by three anonymous reviewers familiar with the subject matter. The reviewers return their opinions, make suggestions, etc. And the editors decide about publication.

Now, the academic domain is swamped by innumerable submissions, totally overwhelming the system. Plus, the addition of numerous “co-authors” means you can co-opt most of the people who should be doing an objective review, leaving the review process in the hands of reviewers who don’t know the field much and don’t much care.. Or maybe who really are friends of the author because the anonymity clause has broken down.

But no, you didn’t get to pick your peers.


22 posted on 08/23/2023 9:17:32 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I said it before and I’ll say it again. Trust science, not scientists.


23 posted on 08/23/2023 9:27:18 AM PDT by ArcadeQuarters (You can't remove RINOs by voting for them!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The science is settled. Trust the science.


24 posted on 08/23/2023 9:34:10 AM PDT by HYPOCRACY (This is the dystopian future we've been waiting for!)
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To: hinckley buzzard
We have a similar problem where I work. No one has time to do a peer review correctly, so they'll check through the document for obvious errors, find a few minor mistakes so there's a record that they did something and move onto the next project.

For example, if we have instructions on how to install a piece of software no one has time to take a clean computer and follow the instructions step by step to duplicate the installation. Instead we end up looking for grammar errors or missing acronym definitions.

How many of these science papers are subject to repeated experiments? Without that you get the weekly flip on whether coffee is good for you or bad based on very thin data or you base national policies on sloppy data.

25 posted on 08/23/2023 9:35:44 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Democrats' version of MAGA: Making America the Gulag Archipelago )
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To: SeekAndFind
Trust the ‘exaggerated claims!’

Only two weeks to ‘exaggerated claims!’

Come on, y'all! You're not a follower of ‘exaggerated claims!’

26 posted on 08/23/2023 9:37:54 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: SeekAndFind
The Hawthorne Effect or Observer Bias in User Research

"The observer bias or the Hawthorne effect refers to the fact that people behave differently when they know they are observed."

I think that this can explain a lot of, if not nearly ALL, study flaws involving human subject studies.

27 posted on 08/23/2023 9:39:06 AM PDT by fwdude (.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s been that way for that magazine for quite a while. I canceled my subscription the day one of their board members posted an impassioned plea for “Women’s Mathematics.” I thought at the time that had to be the high water mark in the Long March Through The Institutions. Turned out it wasn’t even a rest stop.


28 posted on 08/23/2023 9:39:11 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: SeekAndFind

.


29 posted on 08/23/2023 9:51:51 AM PDT by sauropod (I will stand for truth even if I stand alone.)
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To: Pete Dovgan
I would suggest, not from actually studying the data, that those ‘hyped’ claims had much to do with GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR climate science "STUIDIES".
30 posted on 08/23/2023 10:06:26 AM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Were 2,599 of the 2,600 about “global warming”?


31 posted on 08/23/2023 10:34:39 AM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: SeekAndFind
81 million votes.
32 posted on 08/23/2023 10:41:46 AM PDT by MrBambaLaMamba (The only good commie is one that's the dead - Country Joe McDonald)
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To: SeekAndFind

.......using cautious language (i.e., “could” or “appear to”) to avoid sounding overconfident and giving readers a misleading conclusion.......

That is not “hedging”. It has been standard practice in writing scientific papers (including all of my own).

Now we have overconfident scientists who believe their conclusions have more validity than science really allows!

Perhaps some of their papers verge on science fiction!

That is especially true of the very frequent editorials in “Science” on “climate change” and on “equity”!!


33 posted on 08/23/2023 10:44:31 AM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: Pete Dovgan

Some of them have to do not with “climate science”, but with “equity”!!


34 posted on 08/23/2023 10:45:55 AM PDT by Honorary Serb (Kosovo is Serbia! Free Srpska! Abolish ICTY!)
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To: Pete Dovgan

I know that climate crap is in vogue, but the greatest pile of fraudulent research has always been the garbage put out by behavioral “science”.


35 posted on 08/23/2023 11:04:11 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: Responsibility2nd
"Scientists used to confirm homosexuality is a mental disorder. Now they don’t."

I've always been bemused by the "homosexuals are born that way" statement.
If it is a genetic flaw, because nature kills that which does not improve the breed, it follows that homosexuality is like Tay-Sachs or Down's Syndrome. Modern medicine can only extend such life spans.

Since homosexuality, by its very nature, is not passed on from father to son, or mother to daughter, is it a double, recessive, and can it be isolated to a flawed gene sequence?

However, we are no longer permitted to ask.

36 posted on 08/23/2023 12:36:45 PM PDT by jonascord (First rule of the Dunning-Kruger Club is that you do not know you are in the Dunning-Kruger club.)
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To: ConservativeInPA

Science magazine is one of the top journals in the world.
It is very difficult to get published in Science. They publish articles from several different disciplines, such that it is one of the few journals that contains physics, biochemistry, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and other scientific disciplines in one journal.

I have put the table of contents from the current (Aug 2023) issue below. One article talks about the role of climate change in destroying wildlife in southern California 13,000 years ago. A letter talks about how solar energy projects put food security at risk (in China). An article discusses very early human embryonic development and another talks about a helium star with a strong magnetic field.

In other words, looking through the table of contents, it is apparent that Science publishes scientific literature, not sociological mumbo-jumbo meant to intellectualize socialist dictatorships.

Science Magazine Table of Contents, 18 Aug 2023:
EDITORIAL
No democracy, no academia
BY EINAT ALBINSHIKMA BRESSLERASYA ROLLSMICHAL SCHWARTZEHUD SHAPIRO 17 AUG 2023: 715 FULL ACCESS

RELATED IN DEPTH
Israeli scientists speak out against ‘destructive’ policies
BY MICHELE CHABIN
NEWS IN BRIEF
News at a glance
17 AUG 2023: 716-717

IN DEPTH
Maui’s deadly blazes reveal a fire-prone Hawaii
Download PDF
BY MOLLY RAINS 17 AUG 2023: 718-719

Flammable, invasive grasses have changed the island landscape, say its shaken scientists
NIH project probes the human body’s multitude of genomes
BY MITCH LESLIE 17 AUG 2023: 719-720

Agency launches major effort to explore importance of accumulating mutations in somatic cells
After string of failures, Japan aims to launch x-ray telescope
BY DANIEL CLERY 17 AUG 2023: 720-721
Groundbreaking XRISM will capture spectra, revealing the motion and composition of million-degree gases

Myth of Alaskan city’s immunity to tsunamis dispelled
BY CHRISTIAN ELLIOTT 17 AUG 2023: 722
Lucky low tide helped Anchorage dodge catastrophic 1964 tsunami, first analysis of location’s risk finds

Israeli scientists speak out against ‘destructive’ policies
BY MICHELE CHABIN 17 AUG 2023: 723
Many fear erosion of academic freedom and loss of talent

RELATED EDITORIAL
No democracy, no academia
BY EINAT ALBIN, SHIKMA BRESSLER, ET AL.

FEATURE
Death by fire
BY MICHAEL PRICE 17 AUG 2023: 724-727
Wildfires, intensified by climate change and perhaps human activity, may have doomed Southern California’s big mammals 13,000 years ago

INSIGHTS
EXPERT VOICES
Social and institutional dimensions of science: The forgotten components of the science curriculum?
BY SIBEL ERDURAN 18 AUG 2023 Free

PERSPECTIVES
Bacteria stretch and bend oil to feed their appetite
Download PDF
BY TERRY J. MCGENITYPIERRE PHILIPPE LAISSUE 17 AUG 2023: 728-729 NO ACCESS
Microbes reshape oil droplets to speed biodegradation

RELATED RESEARCH ARTICLE
Alcanivorax borkumensis biofilms enhance oil degradation by interfacial tubulation
BY M. PRASAD, N. OBANA, ET AL.

Targeting cancer with molecular glues
BY JUN O. LIU 17 AUG 2023: 729-730 NO ACCESS
Molecular glues suppress the active form of the oncogenic protein KRAS

RELATED RESEARCH ARTICLE
Chemical remodeling of a cellular chaperone to target the active state of mutant KRAS
BY CHRISTOPHER J. SCHULZE, KYLE J. SEAMON, ET AL.

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BY ZHONGWEN BAOCAROL J. PTACEKDAVID W. BLOWES 17 AUG 2023: 731-732 Free
Recovering minerals and metals from abandoned mines could aid decarbonization

What is a cell type?
BY JONAS SIMON FLECKJ. GRAY CAMPBARBARA TREUTLEIN 17 AUG 2023: 733-734 Free
A next step for cell atlases should be to chart perturbations in human model systems

POLICY FORUM
Create a culture of experiments in environmental programs
BY PAUL J. FERRAROTODD L. CHERRYJASON F. SHOGRENCHRISTIAN A. VOSSLERTIMOTHY N. CASONHILARY BYERLY FLINTJACOB P. HOCHARDOLOF JOHANSSON-STENMANPETER MARTINSSONJAMES J. MURPHY[...]LEAF VAN BOVEN 17 AUG 2023: 735-737 NO ACCESS
Organizations need a better “learning by doing” approach

BOOKS ET AL.
Public health versus personalized medicine
BY HENRY T. GREELY 17 AUG 2023: 738 NO ACCESS
Environmental health research is being undermined by genomic medicine, argues a philosopher

Battling information bias
BY JONATHAN WAI 17 AUG 2023: 739 NO ACCESS
Do not wait for society to reject scientific disinformation, tout the truth now

LETTERS
The global impact of EU forest protection policies
BY GIANLUCA CERULLOJOS BARLOWMATTHEW BETTSDAVID EDWARDSALISON EYRESFILIPE FRANÇARACHAEL GARRETTTHOMAS SWINFIELDELEANOR TEWTHOMAS WHITEANDREW BALMFORD17 AUG 2023: 740 NO ACCESS

Solar energy projects put food security at risk
BY ZHONGBIN B. LIYONGJUN ZHANGMENGQIU WANG 17 AUG 2023: 740-741 NO ACCESS

Save China’s gaurs
BY TAO XIANG 17 AUG 2023: 741 NO ACCESS

RESEARCH
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
In Science Journals
BY KEITH T. SMITHYURY SULEYMANOVPHIL SZUROMIH. JESSE SMITHMATTIA MAROSOCLAIRE OLINGYCOURTNEY MALOMICHAEL A. FUNKSACHA VIGNIERISETH THOMAS SCANLON[...]SARAH A. LEMPRIERE 17 AUG 2023: 743-745 Free
Highlights from the Science family of journals
In Other Journals
BY ELISA COLLADO FREGOSOSTELLA M. HURTLEYSETH THOMAS SCANLONCORINNE SIMONTIPHIL SZUROMISACHA VIGNIERIYURY SULEYMANOV 17 AUG 2023: 744-745 Free
Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature

RESEARCH ARTICLES
Pre–Younger Dryas megafaunal extirpation at Rancho La Brea linked to fire-driven state shift
BY F. ROBIN O’KEEFEREGAN E. DUNNELIC M. WEITZELMICHAEL R. WATERSLISA N. MARTINEZWENDY J. BINDERJOHN R. SOUTHONJOSHUA E. COHENJULIE A. MEACHENLARISA R. G. DESANTIS[...]EMILY L. LINDSEY 18 AUG 2023 Free
Around 10,000 years ago, megafaunal losses in California were driven by fires in an ecosystem made vulnerable by climate change.

ABSTRACT
Yolk sac cell atlas reveals multiorgan functions during human early development
Download PDF
BY ISSAC GOHRACHEL A. BOTTINGANTONY ROSESIMONE WEBBJUSTIN ENGELBERTYORICK GITTONEMILY STEPHENSONMARIANA QUIROGA LONDOÑOMICHAEL MATHERNICOLE MENDE[...]MUZLIFAH HANIFFA 18 AUG 2023 NO ACCESS
The human yolk sac is a key staging ground for an array of vital organ functions during development in utero.

ABSTRACT
Alcanivorax borkumensis biofilms enhance oil degradation by interfacial tubulation
BY M. PRASADN. OBANAS.-Z. LINS. ZHAOK. SAKAIC. BLANCH-MERCADERJ. PROSTN. NOMURAJ.-F. RUPPRECHTJ. FATTACCIOLIA. S. UTADA17 AUG 2023: 748-753 NO ACCESS
A type of oil-eating bacteria adapts its biofilm interfacial properties to accelerate the rate of oil consumption.

ABSTRACT
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Bacteria stretch and bend oil to feed their appetite
BY TERRY J. MCGENITY, PIERRE PHILIPPE LAISSUE

Design of stimulus-responsive two-state hinge proteins
BY FLORIAN PRAETORIUSPHILIP J. Y. LEUNGMAXX H. TESSMERADAM BROERMANCULLEN DEMAKISACACIA F. DISHMANARVIND PILLAIABBAS IDRISDAVID JUERGENSJUSTAS DAUPARAS[...]DAVID BAKER 17 AUG 2023: 754-760 NO ACCESS
A two-state design of protein switches that couple effector binding to a conformational change is discussed.

ABSTRACT
A massive helium star with a sufficiently strong magnetic field to form a magnetar
BY TOMER SHENARGREGG A. WADEPABLO MARCHANTSTEFANO BAGNULOJULIA BODENSTEINERDOMINIC M. BOWMANAVISHAI GILKISNORBERT LANGERANDRÉ NICOLAS-CHENÉLIDIA OSKINOVA[...]SILVIA TOONEN 17 AUG 2023: 761-765 NO ACCESS
Observations and models of a Wolf-Rayet star indicate that it will produce a magnetar when it explodes as a supernova.

ABSTRACT
Overcoming losses in superlenses with synthetic waves of complex frequency
BY FUXIN GUANXIANGDONG GUOKEBO ZENGSHU ZHANGZHAOYU NIESHAOJIE MAQING DAIJOHN PENDRYXIANG ZHANGSHUANG ZHANG17 AUG 2023: 766-771 NO ACCESS
Illumination with complex frequency waves can effectively compensate the losses in superlens materials.

ABSTRACT
Human POT1 protects the telomeric ds-ss DNA junction by capping the 5′ end of the chromosome
Download PDF
BY VALERIE M. TESMERKIRSTEN A. BRENNERJAYAKRISHNAN NANDAKUMAR 17 AUG 2023: 771-778 NO ACCESS
POT1 binds the 5ʹ end of the telomeric double-strand–single-strand DNA junction to prevent human chromosome ends from being sensed as DNA damage.

ABSTRACT
Ergodicity breaking in rapidly rotating C60 fullerenes
BY LEE R. LIUDINA ROSENBERGP. BRYAN CHANGALAPHILIP J. D. CROWLEYDAVID J. NESBITTNORMAN Y. YAOTIMUR V. TSCHERBULJUN YE 17 AUG 2023: 778-783 NO ACCESS
The icosahedral C60 molecule’ s ability to thermalize its rotational degree of freedom can switch on and off as it spins up.

ABSTRACT
Ligand-protected metal nanoclusters as low-loss, highly polarized emitters for optical waveguides
BY XIAOJIAN WANGBING YINLIRONG JIANGCUI YANGYING LIUGANG ZOUSHUANG CHENMANZHOU ZHU 27 JUL 2023: 784-790 NO ACCESS
Active optical waveguides with low loss and high polarization were prepared by aggregating stable, emissive metal clusters.

ABSTRACT
Universal theory of strange metals from spatially random interactions
BY AAVISHKAR A. PATELHAOYU GUOILYA ESTERLISSUBIR SACHDEV 17 AUG 2023: 790-793 NO ACCESS
Theory accounts for the unusual temperature dependence of transport properties in strange metals.

ABSTRACT
Chemical remodeling of a cellular chaperone to target the active state of mutant KRAS
BY CHRISTOPHER J. SCHULZEKYLE J. SEAMONYULEI ZHAOYU C. YANGJIM CREGGDONGSUNG KIMAIDAN TOMLINSONTIFFANY J. CHOYZHICAN WANGBEN SANG[...]PIRO LITO 17 AUG 2023: 794-799 NO ACCESS
Small molecules recruit cyclophilin A to the active state of mutant KRAS to disrupt oncogenic signaling and tumor growth.

ABSTRACT
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Targeting cancer with molecular glues
BY JUN O. LIU
MyoD-family inhibitor proteins act as auxiliary subunits of
Piezo channels
BY ZIJING ZHOUXIAONUO MAYIECHANG LINDELFINE CHENGNAVID BAVIGENEVIEVE A. SECKERJINYUAN VERO LIVAIBHAO JANBANDHUDREW L. SUTTONHAMISH S. SCOTT[...]CHARLES D. COX 17 AUG 2023: 799-804 NO ACCESS
Discovery and characterization of binding partners for Piezo channels.

ABSTRACT
CAREERS
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37 posted on 08/23/2023 12:42:16 PM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org)
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To: KarlInOhio; teppe; wita
How many of these science papers are subject to repeated experiments? Without that you get the weekly flip on whether coffee is good for you or bad based on very thin data...

Are you throwing shade on the Word of Wisdom?

38 posted on 08/23/2023 1:30:22 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: exDemMom

John Smith hasn’t got a chance!


39 posted on 08/23/2023 1:33:13 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie; All

There’s a huge repeatability problem in academic publication world. The worst fields for repeatability are the social sciences and believe it not medicine.


40 posted on 08/23/2023 1:33:48 PM PDT by Reily (!!)
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