An article in the Times by Dorothy Bishop explores some of the problems in biomedical research which arise from the obsession with high-impact journals and expensive grants.
Her critique is especially apt in the case of the physical basis of mental illness, in which researchers seeking fame and fortune must master the storytelling arts of simplicity, metaphor and metonymy. Those seeking H-impact & lucre must stay “on message” and above all, never stray into the chaos of imperfect methods and noisy data.
Bishop concludes with a warning, that the relentless focus on publishing in prestigious journals encourages…
1. Over-claiming the significance of research findings.
2. Leaving important, but contradictory results unpublished.
Hubris is the orientation of the former, bad faith the foundation of the latter.
“…what changes everything is the fact that in bad faith it is from myself that I am hiding the truth“. http://www.philosophymagazine.com/others/MO_Sartre_BadFaith.html