I’m just back from Washington DC, where we held the first US meeting of COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics). Engraved onto the building housing part of the National Academy of Sciences is a quote from Einstein which could serve as the COPE motto if we had one. It reads: “The right to search for truth also implies a duty: one must not conceal any part of what one has recognized to be true.” more…

Frank Wells, who is probably the UK’s first professional fraud buster, says he has “yet to meet a female research fraudster.” All the 26 cases of proven villainy he has dealt with have been men. That’s interesting, but not quite enough to fill a blog and perhaps says more about the sex ratio of senior UK researchers, at least in the past, than anything really interesting about research fraud. But, still, 0 out of 26 is pretty impressive (well done, girls!). more…

I’ve reached an age where various bits of my body don’t seeem to work as well as they used to (you’ll be able to find out which ones if you read on). I am also an avid believer that prevention is better than cure, and I actually believe some of the health advice I receive and try to follow it now and then. more…

A journal editor told me he was once asked to act as an expert witness defending a doctor accused of negligence for failing to diagnose a rare condition. The defence hinged on how soon a doctor could reasonably be expected to be aware of a medical development after it had been reported in a journal. To my friend’s relief, but my disappointment, as I’d have liked to have heard his answer, the case was settled without his expert testimony, but his story set me thinking. Journals are in the business of transmitting knowledge and ideas, but most seem content with the most old-fashioned and passive mechanisms and virtually never try to find out what methods work best. more…

I have a fondness for flowcharts. I also attempt to teach doctors to prefer short words when they are writing. So, when I found myself exchanging emails with an American doctor who insisted on referring to the COPE flowcharts as algorithms, I was determined to teach him the error of his ways. But first, I needed some evidence. And now I am in a dilemma, because I also love obscure and confused word origins. more…

As you know (since you are reading this), I blog, albeit sporadically. I do not Tweet (yet) but I’m fascinated by the frenzy of twittering and the explosion of opportunities to launch one’s opinions into cyberspace. 

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Determining the appropriate authorship of publications causes all sorts of problems (in part, I believe, because none of the available guidelines apply in all situations, and many journals offer little help – but I’ve written about that elsewhere, so I’ll try not to rant about it here). What I wanted to write about was the argument I had with a participant at a recent workshop because it demonstrated how much education (and change in attitudes) we need before the situation will improve. more…

I’ve been editing papers written by speakers of languages, such as Russian and Chinese, that don’t use definite and indefinite articles (”the” or “an”) in the same way as English and mulling over the somewhat mysterious use of articles in medical terms. Some colloquial expressions award illnesses a definite article, so you might hear “He’s got the flu” or “Jane’s had the measles” but you’d never say “She’s got the cancer”. more…

I use PowerPoint when I’m giving a presentation, and still believe that it’s a helpful tool if used carefully. I agree with other critics such as Trisha Greenhalgh, that slides packed with verbiage are ghastly and sleep-inducing but strong images can help make your message stick. more…

Oxford University Press has produced new materials for primary schools aimed at encouraging boys to read. I’m not qualified even to start pondering the biosocial reasons why young boys apparently read less well than girls in British schools – but  I was amused by the name of this initiative. It’s called Project X …. more…