573. Can Academic Fraud Be Stopped?

01/18/24 • 62 min

9 Listeners

Probably not — the incentives are too strong. Scholarly publishing is a $28 billion global industry, with misconduct at every level. But a few reformers are gaining ground. (Part 2 of 2)

SOURCES:
- Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
- Leif Nelson, professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.
- Brian Nosek, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center for Open Science.
- Ivan Oransky, distinguished journalist-in-residence at New York University, editor-in-chief of The Transmitter, and co-founder of Retraction Watch.
- Joseph Simmons, professor of applied statistics and operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.
- Simine Vazire, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science.
RESOURCES:
- "The Harvard Professor and the Bloggers," by Noam Scheiber (The New York Times, 2023).
- "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2023).
- "Evolving Patterns of Extremely Productive Publishing Behavior Across Science," by John P.A. Ioannidis, Thomas A. Collins, and Jeroen Baas (bioRxiv, 2023).
- "Hindawi Reveals Process for Retracting More Than 8,000 Paper Mill Articles," (Retraction Watch, 2023).
- "Exclusive: Russian Site Says It Has Brokered Authorships for More Than 10,000 Researchers," (Retraction Watch, 2019).
- "How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data," by Daniele Fanelli (PLOS One, 2009).
EXTRAS:
- "Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
- "Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 1," by Freakonomics Radio (2012).

Probably not — the incentives are too strong. Scholarly publishing is a $28 billion global industry, with misconduct at every level. But a few reformers are gaining ground. (Part 2 of 2)

SOURCES:
- Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
- Leif Nelson, professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.
- Brian Nosek, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center for Open Science.
- Ivan Oransky, distinguished journalist-in-residence at New York University, editor-in-chief of The Transmitter, and co-founder of Retraction Watch.
- Joseph Simmons, professor of applied statistics and operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.
- Simine Vazire, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science.
RESOURCES:
- "The Harvard Professor and the Bloggers," by Noam Scheiber (The New York Times, 2023).
- "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2023).
- "Evolving Patterns of Extremely Productive Publishing Behavior Across Science," by John P.A. Ioannidis, Thomas A. Collins, and Jeroen Baas (bioRxiv, 2023).
- "Hindawi Reveals Process for Retracting More Than 8,000 Paper Mill Articles," (Retraction Watch, 2023).
- "Exclusive: Russian Site Says It Has Brokered Authorships for More Than 10,000 Researchers," (Retraction Watch, 2019).
- "How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data," by Daniele Fanelli (PLOS One, 2009).
EXTRAS:
- "Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
- "Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 1," by Freakonomics Radio (2012).

Previous Episode

572. Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia?

3 Recommendations

Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. We talk to whistleblowers, reformers, and a co-author who got caught up in the chaos. (Part 1 of 2)

SOURCES:
- Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
- Leif Nelson, professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.
- Brian Nosek, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center for Open Science.
- Joseph Simmons, professor of applied statistics and operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.
- Simine Vazire, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science.
RESOURCES:
- "More Than 10,000 Research Papers Were Retracted in 2023 — a New Record," by Richard Van Noorden (Nature, 2023).
- "Data Falsificada (Part 1): 'Clusterfake,'" by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Data Colada, 2023).
- "Fabricated Data in Research About Honesty. You Can't Make This Stuff Up. Or, Can You?" by Nick Fountain, Jeff Guo, Keith Romer, and Emma Peaslee (Planet Money, 2023).
- Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop, by Max Bazerman (2022).
- "Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty," by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Data Colada, 2021).
- "False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant," by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Psychological Science, 2011).
EXTRAS:
- "Why Do We Cheat, and Why Shouldn’t We?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
- "Is Everybody Cheating These Days?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).

Next Episode

5 Psychology Terms You’re Probably Misusing (Replay)

We all like to throw around terms that describe human behavior — “bystander apathy” and “steep learning curve” and “hard-wired.” Most of the time, they don’t actually mean what we think they mean. But don’t worry — the experts are getting it wrong, too.

SOURCES:
- Sharon Begley, senior science writer for Stat at The Boston Globe.
- Jerome Kagan, emeritus professor of psychology at Harvard University.
- Bibb Latané, social psychologist and senior fellow at the Center for Human Science.
- Scott Lilienfeld, professor of psychology at Emory University.
- James Solomon, director and producer of The Witness.
RESOURCES:
- “Tech Metaphors Are Holding Back Brain Research,” by Anna Vlasits (Wired, 2017).
- Can’t Just Stop: An Investigation of Compulsions, by Sharon Begley (2017).
- The Witness, film by James Solomon (2016).
- “Fifty Psychological and Psychiatric Terms to Avoid: a List of Inaccurate, Misleading, Misused, Ambiguous, and Logically Confused Words and Phrases,” by Scott Lilienfeld, Katheryn Sauvigne, Steven Jay Lynn, Robin Cautin, Robert Latzman, and Irwin Waldman (Frontiers in Psychology, 2015).
- SuperFreakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2011).
- Fifty Great Myths of Popular Psychology, by Scott Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry Beyerstein (2009).
- Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, by Sharon Begley (2007).
- “Kitty, 40 Years Later,” by Jim Rasenberger (The New York Times, 2004).
- “37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police,” by Martin Gansberg (The New York Times, 1964).
EXTRAS:
- "Academic Fraud," series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
- “This Idea Must Die,”Freakonomics Radio (2015).