“Fake studies have flooded the publishers of top scientific journals, leading to thousands of retractions and millions of dollars in lost revenue. “

This from today’s WSJ article, Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures – WSJ .

That this is happening plays right into the grips of science deniers. That is bad news. In addition to keeping grifters out of education, we need to keep them out of science – or any legitimate intellectual endeavor.

I wrote a comment that explains my take on this. I mention “A Purloined Proof”. The link to it is on the top menu.

Here is the comment I posted on the WSJ site.

“Any corruptible, unaccountable business is ripe for grifters. As someone who has observed universities from the inside for decades, this is not really a surprise. I can’t count the number of ways unscrupulous faculty and institutions are dishonest. For example…

…. want to bring in money with a government grant? Easy, get a grant to “produce” American PhD’s in an area of “national need”. Give out doctorates like a doctorate mill. If you are an “elite” skill, you do have to pretend, make it take a few years, etc… Now, after reading this article, I wonder how those “faux-PhD’s” publish.

Most worrisome is the amount of damage this does to education in America. I explain that in my blog, inside-higher-ed.com. Some of these “PhDs” become “professors”

All of this in my blog, inside-higher-ed.

As far as cheating in journals, in the good old day, it wasn’t so straightforward. One had to steal someone’s else’s real work. Read “The Purloined Proof” on my blog. (No math required.)”