Romanian Science Journal Punked By Serbian Academics 95
schwit1 writes "A group of Serbian academics, disgusted with the poor state of their country's research output, have scammed a Romanian science journal by getting it to accept their completely fabricated hoax article. From the article: 'The paper is replete with transparent gimmicks — obvious, that is, had anyone at the publication been paying attention — including a reference to the scholarship of [singer Michael] Jackson, Weber, [porn star Ron] Jeremy and citations to new studies by Bernoulli and Laplace, both dead more than 180 years (Weber died in 1920). They also throw in references to the "Journal of Modern Illogical Studies," which to the best of our knowledge does not and never has existed (although perhaps it should), and to a researcher named, dubiously, "A.S. Hole." And, we hasten to add, the noted Kazakh polymath B. Sagdiyev, otherwise known as Borat.' Their paper is hilarious and completely ridiculous, and yet it was published in a so-called serious journal without question. The best part is that they list Alan Sokal's hoax paper from 1996 as one of their sources."
I for one (Score:2, Interesting)
Everyone disgusted by their country's research output should scam a Romanian journal. Or, even better, it doesn't even have to be related to science, it can be about everything. And it doesn't have to be a journal, you can all come here and shout it in the public square.
We can become a stage for anyone who wants to express disgust about everything.
poor article summary: reason in the In Serbia mag. (Score:5, Interesting)
Poor slashdot article summary, the In Serbia magazine explains more clearly why this was done: the authors did it to ridicule the "hyperproduction of quasi-scientific works by Serbian professors that are published in the magazines of dubious quality" - they are having a pop at Serbian professors knocking out poor quality rubbish with more concern for volume than quality, and to where ever they can get them published. That said, I'd say this implies there's some definitive criticism at the low editorial quality of the Romanian publication for taking the article without identifying it as a hoax, and probably some commentary on the pressures of being a Serbian academic, looks like their universities or national funding bodies put them under pressure to produce volume and don't look too carefully at the quality when deciding how to fund their researchers.
What a horrible summary (Score:1, Interesting)
This clearly has nothing to do with being "disgusted with the poor state of their country's research output". Had this really been their intention, they would have published in a Serb science journal, not a Romanian one. Though in a small country like Serbia that would have likely been a career suicide.
That said, and having now read the links (hey at least I read them), the following is a more accurate description and should have been in the summary instead: "The professors, otherwise experts in the area of information systems, had enough seeing many colleagues easily publishing their works in magazines like this one and in this way come to the points they need to move into higher positions."
So, it appears to be more of a case of jealousy than anything (though rightful it would seem).
Re:Great idea! (Score:5, Interesting)
Disgusted with the poor state of Serbia's research output, I will now also scam a Romanian science journal.
Do you even understand what the story is there?
This "science journal" has nothing to do with science, they just print anything people pay them to print and call themselves a 'science journal'. This is how various 'scientists' meet their publishing quota.
By simply publishing shit in a "science journal", they keep their (state funded) privileges.
3 rebellious guys were tired of watching all those corrupted mediocres get away with it, so they managed to get complete nonsense published in this 'science journal' in order to prove that works published in this piece of shit have no value.
Things like this have been done for quite some time now, in many countries. There are quite few journals like this.
Sadly, probably nothing will change.
Re:poor article summary: reason in the In Serbia m (Score:2, Interesting)
The number of "researchers" across the globe has increased by an order of magnitude in the last few decades.
The amount of useful research done has not.
What do you think is being done by most people...?
Academia is something venerated only by people not in academia, who like to be associated with it. And sometimes by the younger, less secure people in academia who are not yet experienced enough to question the quality of their own work, let alone others' (this isn't a criticism - it's a standard problem of youth). There's as much bullshit here as anywhere else, you know.
Nothing from "Journal of Irreproducible Results"? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.jir.com/ [jir.com]
Re:Great idea! (Score:5, Interesting)
as I now have to question every process to publish a paper in every country
Since when does papers being published have any value? I suggest not trusting reviews based solely on them being done by popular entities such as "scientific" journals. Instead, get advice from experts and think for yourself. See what experts think, not what a commercial entity that earns money by publishing stuff thinks.
There should not be a place "scientific" journals in modern science. They have no added value whatsoever and in fact harm free sharing of knowledge and information. It's not 1956 anymore - all scientific papers could easily be made available in a free open standardized way. The same goes for reviews. The scientific world failing to get this right is utterly sad.
Even if this scientific journal would have refused to publish this specific hoax, why would we need them? What's added value do they provide?