"Soon, Brown and Heathers were asking Guéguen and the French Psychological Society about the numbers. The pair says Guéguen failed to adequately address their questions, and the society agreed that their critique seemed well-grounded. So late last year, the men did something that many scientists might find out of bounds: They went public, sharing their concerns with a reporter for Ars Technica, which published a story, and posting their critiques on a blog. (Guéguen declined to discuss the matter with Science; the society says a university panel is examining the papers.)
When it comes to correcting scientific literature, styles vary. Some scientists prefer to go through “proper channels,” such as private conversations or letters to the editor. Others leave anonymous comments on online forums, such as PubPeer, set up to discuss papers. Then there is the more public approach Brown and Heathers are taking.
The two watchdogs have been remarkably effective at uncovering problematic publications. So far, Brown estimates that the analyses he and Heathers have done, sometimes working independently and often with other collaborators, have led to corrections to dozens of papers and the full retraction of roughly 10 more. That total includes five papers retracted over the past year or so by Brian Wansink, a high-profile nutrition researcher at Cornell University...
Despite the charged nature of their work—after all, careers can be on the line—Brown and Heathers have attracted surprisingly little criticism from their peers in science. In part, that’s likely because of their strategy of gently but methodically ratcheting up the pressure on authors and journals. For example, the Wansink analysis, like others the pair has undertaken, began with “some very polite” emails asking for data from the researcher’s department, Brown says, as well as from Cornell’s Office of Research Integrity and Assurance. “But both of those stopped replying to us once—we assume—our questions became too awkward.” (The university has said it is investigating the papers.) At about the same time, Brown and two collaborators—Jordan Anaya and Tim van der Zee, a graduate student at Leiden University in the Netherlands—were working on a preprint that they posted in PeerJ titled “Statistical heartburn: An attempt to digest four pizza publications from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.”...
One big obstacle, they say, is that many are reluctant to rock the boat. “Some people have a block on criticizing others, even to themselves,” Brown says. Their reaction to evident problems is to flinch, as if a scientific superego is saying: “Am I allowed to get this professor’s article and read it? And will something bad happen to me if I recalculate the mean?”
Another hurdle is an overabundance of trust. “Other people really sort of lack the mindset that this might even be necessary,” Heathers says. “There’s no guide to spotting errors. There’s no text that you can read. What we have done so far has been quite ad hoc.”"
I don't know why but I'm totally charmed.
FB: "The duo concedes that their assertive style might rub some scientists the wrong way. Heathers, who has called himself “a data thug,” notes that in academia “the squeaky wheel gets Tasered.” But other researchers laud the pair as the vanguard of a movement to make science more rigorous." it's totally possible that they are the Worst in person, but I kinda really want to hang out with them at a conference cocktail party
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