Wrong community. Plenty of news/politics communities to post to. This space is getting misused for real
If you know how fucked up scientific publishing is, this honestly does not sound that crazy. Something needs to change how it currently works. Top journals charge top coin for publishing studies and scientists work for free to review those publications, then in most cases the studies are not even publicly available. And that’s science funded by the government/the tax payer.
“Work for free to review” oversimplifies it. Peer Review is a key part of how Science operates. These smart folks are getting paid by their companies and academic institutions to conduct Science, and a key part of that is making sure that new advances get the proper vetting. So it’s all part of their normal job description as a Certified Smartypants. And then there is also a clear conflict of interest if these journals pay reviewers, because that might influence reviewers in how they judge the paper.
This is really an attack on peer review, because the kind of junk science the Right espouses these days can’t get past it. Get rid of that, and a lot of their ideas can start to gain more traction, even if they are incorrect and not backed by science. Because they will no longer have independent Scientists as Gatekeepers…
And as we’ve seen recently “peer review” is falling down a lot anyway
This is not an incorrect point but rfks motives are more likely delegitimization of major journals to make the hacky bullshit journals he cites not seem so quacky
If this is successful in 5-10 years it will be much less normal to say “at least show me a paper from nature”. Then the confusing landscape of journals that are not well known become even harder to differentiate from the ones he cites
For reference, when he was citing his antivax bullshit at (I believe it was) his confirmation hearing the article he cited came from a journal of extremely dubious quality. The board of directors were all antivaxxers, one of which being the guy who published the article, and the journal was registered out of a residential home. It was basically the academic journal equivalent of a fanzine with obvious and extreme conflicts of interest in its peer review. The paper itself had glaring methodology issues (shocker).
If scientists are forced to leave the most reputable publications it just muddies the waters even more for articles that are of very high quality or importance
The issues you point out are still very relevant and need resolution of course but they can be solved in other ways. Regulation surrounding how government funded research is handled, how government endowment funds for library access to journals are handled, etc could give significant leverage over private publishers without having to start over from scratch. Or you could be more aggressive and force the publishers to be more equitable, but good luck with that in America
It would also give the quack journals that they are allowed to publish in “authority” to spew more bullshit against actual scientific papers.
This is already happening.
In a few hundred years, some species will find occulted notes of scientists, because it’s illegal to publish reputable science in reputable journals, and some rich, greedy person will think it’s a formula to turn literal carbon waste into literal gold.
Not replying to everyone here, but wanted to make clear I obviously don’t think that the motives behind this are sane.
Just pointing out that the system does need changing. This is probably not the right way but nothing else is happening to the system either. Even though scientists are complaining, their funding depends on publishing in such journals.
Yeah I still can’t believe that this is how we do things in this stupid country.
Sounds like a first amendment violation.
It’s not a first amendment issue. They are paid employees and he can determine what they do with the government paid for research
He is desperate to keep the “research” he is planning into his batshit ideas from peer review.
Do you even know what the first amendment is?
Not not the onion.
RFK Jr is a complete fucking moron
Well if that was the case, what would that say about the Senate?!
Oh.
When the snake starts eating itself.
TL;DR:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to bar government-funded scientists from publishing in several government funded medical journals accusing them of being “corrupt” and controlled by Big Pharma. Instead, he proposed creating HHS-run “in-house” journals, claiming they would become the new gold standard for medical research.
This move risks turning U.S. medical research into a political tool, eroding trust, accelerating the decline of American science and creating an eminent threat to the American healthcare system.
Link to the article without the required sign in.
Link to the article without the required sign in.
Irony?
I’m not sure I follow.
FTA
Kennedy also accused several agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services — including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — of being “sock puppets” for the pharmaceutical industry.
Yes it’s remarkable how unchecked influence can be seen as corruption. Weird that it’s never happened before, or to any other part of this administration.
Their solution: sock puppets that they control directly.
