Scientific discourse as an epic FAIL
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2. Realize that the paper is completely wrong, its conclusions based entirely on several misconceptions. It also claims that an approach you showed to be fundamentally impossible is preferable to one that you pioneered in its place and that actually works. And among other errors, it also includes a serious miscalculation—a number wrong by a factor of about 1000—a fact that’s obvious from a glance at the paper’s main figure.
3. Decide to write a Comment to correct these mistakes—the option conveniently provided by scientific journals precisely for such situations.
...
6. Prepare further by writing to the authors of the incorrect paper, politely asking for important details they neglected to provide in their paper.
7. Receive no response.
...
15. Write a Comment, politely explaining the authors’ misconceptions and correcting their miscalculation, including illustrative figures, important equations, and simple explanations of perhaps how they got it wrong, so others won’t make the same mistake in the future.
16. Submit your Comment.
17. Wait two weeks.
18. Receive a response from the journal, stating that your Comment is 2.39 pages long. Unfortunately, Comments can be no more than 1.00 pages long, so your Comment cannot be considered until it is shortened to less than 1.00 pages long.
...
20. Remove all unnecessary quantities such as figures, equations, and explanations. Also remove mention of some of the authors’ numerous errors, for which there is now no room in your Comment; the archival literature would simply have to be content with a few uncorrected falsehoods. Note that your Comment is now 0.90 pages.
21. Resubmit your Comment.
22. Wait two weeks.
23. Receive a response from the journal, stating that your Comment is 1.07 pages long. Unfortunately, Comments can be no more than 1.00 pages long, so your Comment cannot be considered until it is shortened to less than 1.00 pages long.
...And so the saga begins. Really, the whole thing makes my blood boil.
A post on FriendFeed pointed me to this blog post in Adventures in Ethics and Science discussing a particularly infuriating example of just how broken the current system of scientific publishing can be. The epic tale is presented by Prof. Rick Trebino in a PDF document (below) outlining "How to Publish a Scientific Comment in 123 Easy Steps". This version includes his second addendum in which he gives many excellent (and some painfully obvious) suggestions for how to improve the system.
Here's a preview:1. Read a paper in the most prestigious journal in your field that “proves” that your entire life’s work is wrong.2. Realize that the paper is completely wrong, its conclusions based entirely on several misconceptions. It also claims that an approach you showed to be fundamentally impossible is preferable to one that you pioneered in its place and that actually works. And among other errors, it also includes a serious miscalculation—a number wrong by a factor of about 1000—a fact that’s obvious from a glance at the paper’s main figure.
3. Decide to write a Comment to correct these mistakes—the option conveniently provided by scientific journals precisely for such situations.
...
6. Prepare further by writing to the authors of the incorrect paper, politely asking for important details they neglected to provide in their paper.
7. Receive no response.
...
15. Write a Comment, politely explaining the authors’ misconceptions and correcting their miscalculation, including illustrative figures, important equations, and simple explanations of perhaps how they got it wrong, so others won’t make the same mistake in the future.
16. Submit your Comment.
17. Wait two weeks.
18. Receive a response from the journal, stating that your Comment is 2.39 pages long. Unfortunately, Comments can be no more than 1.00 pages long, so your Comment cannot be considered until it is shortened to less than 1.00 pages long.
...
20. Remove all unnecessary quantities such as figures, equations, and explanations. Also remove mention of some of the authors’ numerous errors, for which there is now no room in your Comment; the archival literature would simply have to be content with a few uncorrected falsehoods. Note that your Comment is now 0.90 pages.
21. Resubmit your Comment.
22. Wait two weeks.
23. Receive a response from the journal, stating that your Comment is 1.07 pages long. Unfortunately, Comments can be no more than 1.00 pages long, so your Comment cannot be considered until it is shortened to less than 1.00 pages long.
...And so the saga begins. Really, the whole thing makes my blood boil.
