Medical Journals Become More of a Joke Than Ever

[leela]

"A respected Canadian medical journal that was sold to offshore owners last year is now printing scientific junk for hire, but still trading on its original good name.

Experimental & Clinical Cardiology was published in Oakville, Ont., for 17 years and had a solid reputation for printing original medical research. It was sold in 2013, and its new owners say they are in Switzerland, but do their banking in Turks and Caicos.
[.....]
To test the journal, the Citizen sent in an outrageously bad manuscript. The title is a hodgepodge of medical-sounding words adding up to nothing: “VEGF proliferation in cardiac cells contributes to vascular declension.”

For the rest we plagiarized a study on HIV but replaced “HIV” with the word “cardiac” throughout, to make it look (sort of) like cardiology. But it wouldn’t impress anyone who knows the subject."

http://ottawacitizen.com/technology/science/respected-medical-journal-turns-to-dark-side

 

[jimells]

“VEGF proliferation in cardiac cells contributes to vascular declension.”

"Vascular declension" - I love it!

 

[SOC]

Shocking. But sadly, it no longer surprises me.

 

[Sushi]

Some quotes from the article:

Some lowlights from the resulting eight pages:

• “cardiac-infected cells…”
• “In conclusion, cardiac integration into genes associated with cancer…”
• “Cell-to-cell spread of cardiac permits ongoing replication despite antiretroviral therapy.”
• “Persistent cardiac-1 replication is associated with lower antiretroviral drug concentrations …”

 

[Little Bluestem]

"Cell to cell spread of cardiac" - that sounds ominous!

 

[Hip]

That's the problem with open access journals (also called "pay to publish" journals) like Experimental & Clinical Cardiology: there can be issues with quality control.

A similar "sting" on open access journals was conducted last year.


However, in what way are medical journals in general a joke, as the tread title suggests?

 

[Snow Leopard]

It is definitely disappointing, but not completely unexpected - quality can't always be 100% when humans are involved...