2024-1Translation1-ItwasonlyafterIstartedtowriteaweeklycolumnaboutthemedicaljournals,andbegantoreadscientificpapersfrombeginningtoend,thatIrealisedjusthowbadmuchofthemedicalliteraturefrequentlywas.Icametorecognisevarioussignsofabadpaper:thekindofpaperthatpurportstoshowthatpeoplewhoeatmorethanonekiloofbroccoliaweekwere1.17timesmorelikelythanthosewhoeatlesstosufferlateinlifefromperniciousanaemia.(46)Thereisagreatdealofthiskindofnonsenseinthemedicaljournalswhich,whentakenupbybroadcastersandthelaypress,generatesbothhealthscaresandshort-liveddietaryenthusiasms.2-Whyissomuchbadsciencepublished?Arecentpaper,titled“TheNaturalSelectionofBadScience”,publishedontheRoyalSociety’sopensciencewebsite,attemptstoanswerthisintriguingandimportantquestion.Itsaysthattheproblemisnotmerelythatpeopledobadscience,butthatourcurrentsystemofcareeradvancementpositivelyencouragesit.Whatisimportantisnottruth,butpublication,whichhasbecomealmostanendinitself.Therehasbeenakindofinflationaryprocessatwork:(47)nowadaysanyoneapplyingforaresearchposthastohavepublishedtwicethenumberofpapersthatwouldhavebeenrequiredforthesamepostonly10yearsago.Nevermindthequality,then,countthenumber.3-(48)Attemptshavebeenmadetocurbthistendency,forexample,bytryingtoincorporatesomemeasureofqualityaswellasquantityintotheassessmentofanapplicant’spapers.Thisisthefamedcitationindex,thatistosaythenumberoftimesapaperhasbeenquotedelsewhereinthescientificliterature,theassumptionbeingthatanimportantpaperwillbecitedmoreoftenthanoneofsmallaccount.(49)Thiswouldbereasonableifitwerenotforthefactthatscientistscaneasilyarrangetocitethemselvesintheirfuturepublications,orgetassociatestodosofortheminreturnforsimilarfavours.4-Boilingdownanindividual’soutputtosimplemetrics,suchasnumberofpublicationsorjournalimpacts,entailsconsiderablesavingsintime,energyandambiguity.Unfortunately,thelong-termcostsofusingsimplequantitativemetricstoassessresearchermeritarelikelytobequitegreat.(50)Ifweareseriousaboutensuringthatourscienceisbothmeaningfulandreproducible,wemustensurethatourinstitutionsencouragethatkindofscience.
考研英语一手译电子版全套1997-英语一翻译2010-2024-1 Trans
