Analysis of Publications

Catalog description

The purpose of this course is to use the information learned from retracted scientific papers in the medical/pharmaceutical field to teach many aspects of scientific publication. The class will discuss the specific reasons for the retractions, for example, errors in data, plagiarism, or fraudulent data including manipulated photo images. Using data from subsequent publications that led to the particular retraction, we will analyze the original data in terms of the rigor of statistics, reproducibility, and hints of data manipulation. We will also analyze the impact of the retracted papers on the scientific concepts and to public health. A retracted paper means that the particular data no longer exist in the literature; therefore in this course, we will discuss the ethics and responsibility of authorship, including coauthors. We will also discuss the process of scientific publication and the peer review process that varies widely among journals. Examples of the adverse consequences of retracted papers to medical science, to the biomedical community, and to the public at large will be given in class and discussed in terms of the responsibility of scientists and the ethics in scientific publications. For students electing to receive a letter grade in the course, two written assignments will be required.