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Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

chrisbrunet.com

41–50 of 103 posts

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#41

I am not arguing against the facts expressed in the piece. This is not an area in which I have any expertise. However, I am a bit uncomfortable with the pithy language used. It's possible (likely, even), that the fired editors deserve the pithiness, but it's still a bit weird to read that kind of prose, in a scientific context.

I thought the caption "looking normal" was possibly a bit unnecessary.

Then again, I also found it rather funny. I suspect this is because I am a bad person.

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spot on. Leaders in my company love to tout the line "assume good faith". If you say anything that indicates someone else is not operating in good faith, you are deemed the bad actor. This allows bad actors to run absolutely rampant.

You can assume good faith initially without having to tolerate a bad actor who invalidates that assumption. It seems like your company leadership missed that part of the lesson.

I would argue that there's an incentive to "miss" that part of the lesson.

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#43
post #40

Sayre's Law: Academic Politics Are So Vicious Because the Stakes Are So Small Maybe universities, tenure committees, and funding sources should stop measuring academics by vanity metrics such as H-Index and publication counts. And don't get me started on the tendency toward "minimum publishable units." That said, abusing power as an editor deserves a special place in hell...

How should they be judged then? Any metric can be gamed. And if it will be kind of qualitative assessment then politics will be 10000x more important. The system is clearly broken but I’m not sure if alternative is not even worse.

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#46

The funny thing is, if the guy wasn't quite so greedy with this racket, probably no one would notice. Surely if the number of your publications and citations shoots up exponentially and surpasses those of much more well-known scientists, folks are bound to ask questions. I wonder if this got out of control or whether he really did think it's a good idea to collude his way to such prominence.

This is typical behavior from psychopaths when they get away with the crime for so long, they believe they are untouchable and start becoming sloppy and get caught.

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#47
post #44

[flagged]

Your comment is funny because it’s completely opposite - economics has generally great track record and fraudulent results typically do not survive for long. Citation cartels and paper mills exist in all disciplines.

Does it, really? There haven't been any problematic issues since economists and their lore became a dominant influence over politics that could be attributed to this influence?

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#48
post #44

[flagged]

Your comment is funny because it’s completely opposite - economics has generally great track record and fraudulent results typically do not survive for long. Citation cartels and paper mills exist in all disciplines.

the economists have a terrible record which is why public opinion of them is low. I'd guess equal weight to meterologists forecasting.

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#49
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is funny because it’s completely opposite - economics has generally great track record and fraudulent results typically do not survive for long. Citation cartels and paper mills exist in all disciplines.

the economists have a terrible record which is why public opinion of them is low. I'd guess equal weight to meterologists forecasting.

Do meteorologists have a terrible record?

I've literally got the NWS hourly forecast and radar open in the next tab over to watch when and where the rain will be clear as I plan my route home...

Re: Third editor fired in Elsevier’s citation cartel crackdown

#50
Elsevier has a history of 'promoting' successful millers to more or other journals, so they can 'drive growth', as it's sometimes put in IT, there as well.

https://forbetterscience.com/2023/10/24/elsevier-choses-pape...

This type of corporation is nasty and should not be allowed to exist, but thanks to people like the Maxwell clan, they do. For now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnmFTvlrsOo

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