Opening a can of data-sharing worms
Are researchers’ dogs eating a lot of their homework? Well, yesterday afternoon at the quadrennial medical editors’ scientific meeting in Chicago, we found out they kinda are. Timothy Vines and...
View ArticleScience buzz and criticism get a powerful boost
A closed beta pilot commenting system for PubMed rumbled into life in Bethesda, USA on Tuesday morning (22 Oct 2013). Here's a personal (very biased) selection from the stream of blogging and more than...
View ArticleBiomedical research: Believe it or not?
It’s not often that a research article barrels down the straight toward its one millionth view. Thousands of biomedical papers are published every day. Despite often ardent pleas by their authors to...
View ArticleInching closer towards a science base for justice
In a courtroom, the full power of the state comes down on an individual. No one should have to face that on their own. A criminal defense lawyer was making this argument to me after a long day in the …...
View Article5 Key Things to Know About Meta-Analysis
Knowledge accumulates. But studies can get contradictory or misleading along the way. You can’t just do a head count: 3 studies saying yes minus 1 saying no ≠ thumbs up. The one that says “no” might...
View ArticleTeenage Mutant Ninja Journal! Celebrating an Open Access Birthday
“The world of medical journals needs a fresh infusion of idealism.” And with those words from PLOS founders, Mike Eisen, Pat Brown, and Harold Varmus, the first issue of PLOS Medicine launched 10 years...
View ArticleStudy Report, Study Reality, and the Gap Between
We take mental shortcuts about research reports. “I read a study,” we say. We don’t only talk about them as though they are the study – we tend to think of them that way, too. And that’s risky. Even...
View ArticleEvidence Live and Kicking (Part 1)
“Evidence based medicine: a movement in crisis?” That 2014 editorial by Trisha Greenhalgh and colleagues echoed through the hallways leading up to this year’s Evidence Live conference, on now at Oxford...
View ArticleRifts and Bright Spots in Evidence-Based Medicine
It all starts and ends with the patient. That was a strong message from the first day of Evidence Live. Trisha Greenhalgh walked that walk on day 2. She showed the limits of evidence-based medicine...
View ArticleTricked: The Ethical Slipperiness of Hoaxes
Hoaxes sure can stir up a lot of emotion, can’t they? We tend to have a quick reaction to them, and they flush out differences in values quickly, too. A few days ago, American journalist John...
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