U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has threatened to prevent government scientists from publishing their work in leading medical and scientific journals, which he deems to be of poor quality. While it is true that the number of retracted or falsified scientific papers is increasing, many researchers believe that Mr. Kennedy is wrongly using this pretext to attack science.
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Scientific editors estimate that about 2% of articles submitted for publication (not those that are published) are probably false.
While these figures may seem worrying, they should be put into perspective. It still means that 98% of science remains reliable. “I think this is a bit lost in Mr. Kennedy’s speech,” explains Ophélie Fraisier-Vannier, a researcher at the Toulouse Institute for Computer Science Research, who has studied the spread of false information and scientific rumors.
The problem, she says, is rather that of the scientific publishing industry.
“Mr. Kennedy’s rhetoric about ethics and scientific rigor is purely political and propaganda,” said Ivan Oransky, founder of the scientific integrity website Retraction Watch.
