Preprints Could Promote Confusion and Distortion. Sheldon, T. 559(7715):445.
Paper doi abstract bibtex The scientific community must take measures to keep preprints from distorting the public's understanding of science, says Tom Sheldon. [Excerpt] [...] As soon as research is in the public domain, there is nothing to stop a journalist writing about it, and rushing to be the first to do so. Imagine early findings that seem to show that climate change is natural or that a common vaccine is unsafe. Preprints on subjects such as those could, if they become a story that goes viral, end up misleading millions, whether or not that was the intention of the authors. [...] Another risk is the inverse – and this one could matter more to some researchers. Under the preprint system, one intrepid journalist trawling the servers can break a story; by the time other reporters have noticed, it's old news, and they can't persuade their editors to publish. [...]
@article{sheldonPreprintsCouldPromote2018,
title = {Preprints Could Promote Confusion and Distortion},
author = {Sheldon, Tom},
date = {2018-07},
journaltitle = {Nature},
volume = {559},
pages = {445},
issn = {0028-0836},
doi = {10.1038/d41586-018-05789-4},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05789-4},
abstract = {The scientific community must take measures to keep preprints from distorting the public's understanding of science, says Tom Sheldon.
[Excerpt] [...] As soon as research is in the public domain, there is nothing to stop a journalist writing about it, and rushing to be the first to do so. Imagine early findings that seem to show that climate change is natural or that a common vaccine is unsafe. Preprints on subjects such as those could, if they become a story that goes viral, end up misleading millions, whether or not that was the intention of the authors. [...] Another risk is the inverse -- and this one could matter more to some researchers. Under the preprint system, one intrepid journalist trawling the servers can break a story; by the time other reporters have noticed, it's old news, and they can't persuade their editors to publish. [...]},
keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-14618572,~to-add-doi-URL,free-scientific-knowledge,open-science,peer-review,preprints,research-management,science-ethics,science-policy-interface,science-society-interface,scientific-communication,scientific-knowledge-sharing,transparency},
number = {7715}
}
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