Is science sometimes in danger of getting tunnel vision? Recently published ebook author, Ian Miller, looks at other possible theories arising from data that we think we understand. Can looking problems in a different light give scientists a different perspective?

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Archive for July, 2015
Since my last post, I received a telephone questionnaire relating to what the RSC should be doing, which raises the question, what should it be doing? First, some things are obvious, particularly relating to practicing chemists, and in my opinion, the RSC does these rather well. There are obviously some additional things it could be doing, and any organization has room for improvement, but I suspect the average response to such a questionnaire will be to make minor adjustments to what is already there. Leaving aside the need to work for chemists, I think there are three major areas for the society to consider.
 
The first is to get a basic understanding of chemistry to the general public. In the recent RSC poll, 55% of the public believed it is important to know about chemistry, but I bet most who answered that way would admit they know very little. By basic understanding, I mean enough to understand the problems the world faces, enough to see them safely through their lives, and enough to sense whether someone making a public statement is speaking sensibly. In New Zealand recently, one family died by accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, and had they understood the problem, this would not have happened. I know you can never totally prevent such incidents, nor can you cover every eventuality, but I think the society could be more active in trying, perhaps by giving some basic information in an easily comprehended form on its website, or perhaps by making Youtube video educational items.
 
The second is to make a broader explanation of certain important environmental issues available to the general public. I have seen a lot of irrational and false comments about matters like climate change, and I feel the Society should make a bigger effort to show the public how to handle the chemical aspects, or perhaps with the Institute of Physics, a proper overall picture, including a discussion of what we do not know for sure. The problem, as I see it, is that science tends to present very technical statements with proper scientific statements of uncertainty, but the public cannot understand them, and instead fall to "snake oil" merchants. I am not saying there cannot be dissent, but the public must realize that dissent requires logical analysis and evidence. I think the public is smarter than we give them credit for, BUT they lack specific information.
 
The third is I think the Society should show how chemistry can assist the economy, and not just by helping big companies. In the RSC survey, many people believed that chemistry can help the economy, and the fact is that now the more wealthy countries have a strong knowledge input into their economies. It can also show up problems smaller companies have and make basic chemical information available. Not all companies are associated with a University, and it is important that graduates, when they go into the world, have the opportunity to stay on top of their profession.
 
There will be other things the Society could do, and many may be more significant, but they are my thoughts as to what could be done. What are yours? One of the better things the RSC does is to put up blogs like this, and while this offers the chance to involve all the members in idea creation, that only works if the members participate, so why not throw in your thoughts?
 
Posted by Ian Miller on Jul 27, 2015 3:35 AM BST
Towards the end of last year, Nature published two articles that raised issues with the peer review system. In one, the claim was made that the reviewer of one paper had not even read the paper, because he commented on something that might usually be found in such a paper, but in this case was not. Now, naturally this would be a cause for concern for the author. However, the article then went on to a somewhat deeper issue, namely that in 2013, the articles indexed in Elsevier's Scopus rose to 2.7 million. Now not all of these would be peer reviewed, but you see the problem. There are just not enough experts to deal with this flood of material. What happens is that scientists are given papers that are more outside their specialty, and yes, the reviewer may be able to evaluate the methods and results section, but, according to the claim, lack the expertise to evaluate the introduction and discussion.
 
The article then made the claim that reviewers should verify the authors are quoting the right literature to support their views. Now, I dispute this. The reason for citing literature is when the papers put forward views or results that are of significance to the argument that will follow, but an introduction of a paper is not a general review of anything that is vaguely associated with the topic. So the first question is, is the work novel? The probability of recognizing plagiarism unfortunately increases very rapidly as the level of expertise and experience of the reviewer becomes more significant. Recall the word "peer"? If the work is accepted as novel, then the next question is, are there any facts or assumptions seemingly pulled out of thin air that should be referenced to some other paper? If so, those papers should be referenced, but there is a problem in that the reviewer should not be expected to do a full literature search. Surely the author has to take responsibility. The important thing is the author does not claim that to which he is not entitled. The third problem is, is there a reference that shows the work to be wrong? Again, an expert in the field should be able to show this, but how to find enough such experts? Experts, by definition, are a small fraction of the total scientists.
 
The second Nature article illustrated what I believe is a far more insidious problem: the peer review loop. Authors are often asked to recommend peer reviewers, so they do, within a small group of friends. In return, they know they will be recommended back. In a nice cozy circle, of course you recommend publication, with maybe the odd correction to show you did something. Even worse was the case where one author did his own reviews, and sent them to colleagues who in turn would submit them to the editor. This was caught out because everyone did it far too quickly. If you are going to cheat the system, obviously you should do it slowly, when the editor will be finally glad to have something on his table!
 
I believe recommendations from scientists should stop, but that then raises the question, how does the editor find reviewers? Personal knowledge is valuable, but with the great flood of papers coming in, can the editor know enough experts so that those he chooses are not overwhelmed? Then there is a problem with multi-author papers. If you look at some of the papers regarding the results from some of the NASA space probes, there may be up to fifty authors cited. In other words, anyone who knows sufficient is already an author.
 
But this raises the questions, why would scientists want to game the system, and why is peer review required? The answer to the first appears to be, to get more papers that go towards building up a reputation for promotion, awards, whatever. I suspect the scientific literature would become a lot more manageable if this practice were to stop. But the answer to the second one might come from something similar to the physicists' ArXiv; the authors can publish anything in e-form, but it is then open to public peer review, in which relevant comments from others can be attached. If the paper survives, it is worth keeping. If there is obvious plagiarism then the work is deleted and the plagiarist publicly identified. If some references have been left out, they can be added, although some check on relevance as opposed to self-citing would be required. If there is evidence the work is wrong, then that work can be submitted as a linked paper, and if  the first paper is not adequately defended, then everyone will disregard it. Let the scientific community do the peer review. This would not have worked while journals were printed on paper, but when they are essentially e-journals, why not? What do you think?
 
Posted by Ian Miller on Jul 5, 2015 11:47 PM BST