Merck and Elsevier Publish Phony Peer-Review Journal

Posted on May 3, 2009  Comments (1)

Elsevier is one of those publishers fighting open science. They try to claim that the government publishing government funded research in an open way will tarnish science. The argument makes no sense to me. Here is another crazy action on their part: they published a “journal” funded by Merck to promote Merck products. Merck Makes Phony Peer-Review Journal:

Merck cooked up a phony, but real sounding, peer reviewed journal and published favorably looking data for its products in them. Merck paid Elsevier to publish such a tome, which neither appears in MEDLINE or has a website, according to The Scientist.
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What’s sad is that I’m sure many a primary care physician was given literature from Merck that said, “As published in Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine, Fosamax outperforms all other medications….” Said doctor, or even the average researcher wouldn’t know that the journal is bogus. In fact, knowing that the journal is published by Elsevier gives it credibility!

As I have said the journals fighting open science should have their credibility questioned. They are putting their outdated business model above science. We should not see organizations that are focused on closing science research through deceptive publicity efforts and lobbying efforts as credible.

Related: From Ghost Writing to Ghost Management in Medical Journals – Merck Faked a Research Journal – Medical Study Integrity (or Lack Thereof) – The Future of Scholarly Publication – Fresh questions raised about prominent cardiologist’s role in “ghostwritten” 2001 meta-analysis of Vioxx trials – Science Commons: Making Scientific Research Re-useful – Publishers Continue to Fight Open Access to Science – Misleading or Deceptive Conduct – Peter Suber Response to Rep. Conyers

New Largest Known Cave

Posted on May 2, 2009  Comments (2)

photo of world's largest known cave, in Vietnam

The world’s largest cave

A British caving team believe they have discovered the world’s largest cave passage in the heart of the Vietnamese jungle. The rocky passage is 150metres long and measures a towering 200metres in height – seven times as high as the vaulted ceiling of York Cathedral.
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Called Hang Son Doong (Mountain River Cave) it is believed to be almost twice the size of the current record holder
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The cave was originally discovered in 1991 by a Vietnamese Jungle man called Ho Khanh. However Mr Spillane said no-one had entered if before because ‘it emitted a frightful wind and noise which was due to a large underground river’.

Related: 1,000 Species Discovered in Greater Mekong in Last Decade – Bats Are Dying in North-East USA – Himalayas Geology – Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Utah – Curious Cat Science Search – posts on geology



Friday Cat Fun #15: Curious Cat Hat

Posted on May 1, 2009  Comments (4)

Maru, a Scottish Fold, in Japan has his own cat blog. This is a second post on Maru: Friday Cat Fun #7: Curious Cat and Boxes

Related: Friday Cat Fun #11: Ninja Cat Stair Climbing – Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss, 1957. The Engineer That Made Your Cat a Photographer – The Cat and a Black Bear – fun posts – Quantum Teleportation

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