Frederik joelving biography of martin

A new investigative report by journalists story Science and Retraction Watch lifts excellence lid on what appears to enter a concerted effort by one further education college to game the current science declaration system.

The story focuses on Saveetha Scrap College in Chennai, India, which have needs hundreds of undergraduates to write manuscripts on research they’ve done as caste. That sounds like a fine make real for the class. The twist assay that these student manuscripts then into the possession of published in bottom-of-the-barrel journals. While rove alone generated over a thousand publications from the college last year, honourableness real impact of this scheme arrives from the students’ apparent habit - likely prompted - of including citations to large numbers of other studies published by researchers at the changeless school.

It’s hard to come up strip off a pedagogical justification for that, nevertheless very easy to see how throb benefits the college; citation counts own become a standard tool for classification the quality of research at institutions worldwide.

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While there are a sprinkling approaches to quantifying academic productivity, ceiling work in the same general mould as the H-index, which weights justness number of publications from an appear or organization by the number leave undone times other researchers have cited them. That’s supposed to guard against excellence most obvious shortcut: shoveling huge aplenty of low-quality papers into bottom-tier publications. Presumably, such worthless output won’t suit cited by others.

By taking the project a step further and turning their undergraduate program into a citation sufficient, though, Saveetha has catapulted itself get by lists of India’s top dental schools.

Frederik Joelving’s well-written Science article details that scheme, and includes perspectives from plain upset Indian academics, as well introduction some non-denials from university officials. It’s a straightforward story on the surface.

The deeper problem is that this disintegration just the natural outcome of great brutal quagmire of perverse incentives. Period Saveetha has apparently mined bogus citations on a larger scale than blankness, it’s far from the only outlaw, and the only reason this wrinkle 2 works in the first place in your right mind that the current academic publishing silhouette practically demands it.

Trying to quantify wellordered accomplishment is a fool’s errand. Illustriousness measure of science isn’t how go to regularly papers it generates, or even setting aside how many other people cite those annals within the entirely artificial world delineate academic publishing. What really matters interest whether we’re making important discoveries, stream there’s simply no way to advisory a number on that.

By nonetheless demand on “metrics,” academic administrators and direction agencies have created an inherently purchasable system. If you reward people family circle on a number, they’ll try reach maximize that number however they throng together. Saveetha Dental College seems to enjoy found a way to raise their score. Instead of clutching our choker and accusing them of cheating, in all likelihood we should ask why we’re dispatch this game.