Science has become like Hollywood: pop stars are required so people are willing to do "whatever is necessary" to be a star. "Publish or die" seems to mean "publish, be cited at any cost, and make a lot of noise as if you were very important to become important". In this adventure of being academic, the difference between being remembered as as an important man of knowledge or just another romantic naive that failed, is having enough citations to validate you. A difficult and complex panorama to deal with... and now we will judge this man, but scarcely will talk about the system that created and pushed him towards such a fake. I find it sad and disappointing not only for him, but for the system itself. I feel we lost the track somewhere... 2011/9/8 Aldo de Moor <ademoor@communitysense.nl>

A huge science fraud case has exploded here in Tilburg yesterday. Diederik Stapel was professor and dean of the Tilburg School of Social & Behavioral Sciences. He is one of the best published social scientists in the Netherlands, but turns out to have fabricated large amounts of his research data:

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/09/dutch-university-sacks-soc...

Another road kill of the publish or perish rat race? Another reason for thinking about new ways of doing science that are more in line with the true needs of the individuals that do it, and society that needs it? Another reason for more community-oriented forms of doing research?

Aldo

========================================================================== Aldo de Moor, PhD CommunitySense - for working communities Cavaleriestraat 2, 5017 ET Tilburg, the Netherlands e-mail: ademoor@communitysense.nl mob: +31-6-47011400, tel/fax: +31-13-4564126 site: www.communitysense.nl KvK: 18088302 blog: communitysense.wordpress.com ___twitter: ademoor___ ==========================================================================

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-- *Cristian Berrío Zapata* Candidato Doutoral em Ciência da Informação Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências, Marilia - Sao Paulo Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mésquita Filho UNESP