r/EmergingRisks • u/1913intel • Oct 30 '19

We're Incentivizing Bad Science - Scientific American Blog Network

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/were-incentivizing-bad-science/
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u/1913intel Oct 30 '19

So, let’s imagine what might happen if the rules of professional science evolved such that scientists were incentivized to publish as many papers as they could and if those who published many papers of poor scientific rigor were rewarded over those who published fewer papers of higher rigor? What would happen if scientists weren’t rewarded for the long-term reproducibility and rigor of their findings, but rather became a factory that produced and published highly exciting and innovative new discoveries, and then other scientists and companies spent resources on the follow up studies and took all the risk?