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Academic Fraud – Exposes the Flaws of the Peer Review Process

We tell the students who we teach about using library resources that they should limit their research to peer reviewed journals for many topics. Particularly in the sciences. Many of our databases, Academic Search Premier, Expanded Academic and our mega-search tool, Summon, limiting to peer reviewed scholarly resources is a choice. The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting on an incident that took place in 2001. GlaxoSmithKline paid a ghost writer to write a paper that was accepted for publication in the peer review, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Vol. 40, (7) 2001 762-772. GlaxoSmithKline admitted its guilt and has paid 3 BILLION dollars, yes BILLION with a B. According to the Chronicle article, Paxil made over 11 billion dollars ust between 1993 and 2007.

The purported 22 authors were not from Podunk U (apologies to Podunk). These were people from Brown (who will not comment); University of Pittsburgh; UCLA; New York University; Dalhousie University; University of Pennsylvania; State University of New York at Stony Brook; Center for Health Research, Portland, OR; University of Texas; Washington University, St. Louis (my alma mater, tsk tsk); Grace-1WK Hospital, Halifax; University of Toronto; Oregon Health Sciences University; New York State Psychiatric Institute; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The list reads like the who’s who in major research universities. And nothing is happening to the researchers who have gone on to have prestigious positions at major universities, holding named positions, editors of journals and publishing in large quantities. Nothing is happening to this ‘prestigious’ journal NOR is the article being retracted. Did you know there is a Medical Subject Heading for Retracted articles? AND something allegedly did happen to the children who took this drug when it is not recommended for people under 18. Suicide. That’s the real tragedy here.

In 2008 the book Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial by Allison Bass was published. There are two copies in CLICnet. It documents this event.

For me, having been an academic medical librarian for 26 years prior to going to general academic libraries this admission does more than just put this article and these people into doubt. It puts the process into doubt. If they thought they could get away with this, and they did for 11 years, it must be rampant in the scientific community. Oh, we’ll just let the drug maker write it up for us! We’ll get the credit, it will support our advancement and tenure documents, we’ll get more government grants. It makes me feel that a Wikipedia article gets more scrutiny than a journal article in a prestigious journal. OK, kids, just go to Wikipedia. Watch out for the article by Keller, et. al. (That’s more warning than any article that cites that 2001 article gives.)

August 7, 2012 by

English, Uncategorized

Maeve Binchy, Irish author, in Memoriam

Maeve Binchy is among my favorite authors. She died July 30, 2012.

I’m sure that many would put her in the chick-lit category, but I would not. While romance often plays a part in her books, more important is the character development. She introduces her characters as they are both to themselves and to others. They will not be perfect, but you love them because they are not perfect. Often, when I finished one of her books, I would sit and simply miss the characters or wonder what they were doing in their next chapter. Sometimes she continues their stories in her later books, not necessarily as the main characters, more often as cameos, and you get a glimpse of what they are doing now.

She spends time on place of action. Most of her books take place in Ireland, although sometimes the main characters are traveling elsewhere. She presents Ireland one of the characters. Not perfect, but getting better and aspiring to be better.

You don’t need to start back and go forward. Her first published book was 1982 and in 1990 she published Circle of Friends, ultimately made into a charming movie (1995). My favorite book is Glass Lake. Scarlet Feather and Quentins are well connected. I understand that she had a completed book with her editor so we can hope that we will ‘hear’ from her again. Seldom has an author touched me like Binchy, I will miss her.

August 6, 2012 by

Libraries, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Uncategorized

Poetry on the Patio available for your enjoyment online

Karina Poyerd

UST Libraries have celebrated National Poetry Month for the past 14 years with Poetry on the Patio, an annual outdoor reading on the library terrace. Recordings of each are now posted online in a library research guide formatted by Karina Poyerd, library student assistant. Thank you to library staff members including Talia Nadir, Ben Durrant, John Heintz, Merrie Davidson, and Laura Hansen, for taking a look at Karina’s work as she progressed through this project and providing her wonderful tips.

Even though the site is still being edited and developed with additional links, you are all invited to visit Poetry on the Patio and enjoy a video of each of the 14 annual readings. Then follow links to information about the poets selected, books written by the poets and, as often as possible, the text of the selected poems.

May 16, 2012 by

Archbishop Ireland Library, Uncategorized

Introducing our three newly sainted computers

Ireland Library would like to introduce the namesakes of the three new computers in the Reference Room. They are Saint Jerome, Blessed Kateri, and Saint Lucy.

Saint Jerome

Saint Lucy

Blessed Kateri

It was a hard fought race but these three candidates rose to the top to receive the honor of having a Personal Computing device named after them. This might seem insignificant to some, but these indivduals will be implored every time a patron has only a prayer in completing a paper.

Thank you to all Ireland Library users who participated in the democratic process of nominating and voting for saints. You make Ireland a unique place.

May 14, 2012 by clborchardt

Uncategorized

TRIAL – Springer Images

Trial of Springer Images.

This product includes access to more than 3 million photos, graphs, histograms and tables from science, technology and medicine in 18 subject collections most from books. One of the cool features is that once having chosen an image, chart or graph or photo you are then in the book from whence it came. You then will be guided to other images and text about the image you have chosen. If this is purchased, the images can be used legally in presentations, Blackboard and classroom work for educational purposes only.

If you find SpringerImages valuable, please let

Trial ends 4/30/12. Send comments to Eric or Linda know.

PS – if you wanna be creeped out, look up sand flea. <shudder>

March 8, 2012 by

Uncategorized

Ebook Article in The Bulletin Today

Dan Gjelten and I write about the state of the ebook today in the University of St. Thomas’ The Bulletin Today. Read it really soon, by tomorrow it will be out of date. UST will have purchased more ebook content from more publishers and vendors; more publishers will have allowed users to download their books to their preferred device; more companies will have created devices; fewer people will resist the temptation of using an ebook; more people will seek out an ebook to use their snazzy new device (see above comment). In order to help everyone understand the complexities by vendor, ‘we’ve’ created (and by we, I mean Carolyn) a LibGuide. Further, we have a LibGuide on textbook alternatives, most of which are ebooks, but NOT owned by the UST libraries. Much like the beginning of the journal migration from print to online we are witnessing a huge change in publishing and libraries. I sometimes think of the change from the tablet to the scroll and the scroll to the book. How everything had to be different to manage these new forms of communication and technology. Imagine having shelves that held those stone tables and along comes a scroll – and that scroll can be any height. Anyway, I digress. But you get my drift. It would be really exciting if we could just sit back and watch this evolve, but, alas, we have to make it all happen and happen seamlessly.

March 1, 2012 by

Uncategorized

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

The Guthrie production of Tennessee Williams’ play, Cat on a hot tin roof, is terrific. The reviewers said that if you saw the movie, you have not seen the play, and they were right.

The libraries own copies of both the book and the movie, but you don’t even need to do your homework before you go. The libraries also have ample scholarly literature on the book and movie. The actors were absolutely pitch perfect. Extremely demanding roles:Big Daddy, Big Mama, Maggie, and Mae are stand outs. Mae had a relatively small role, but she played it brilliantly. Every turn of her hand, expression or cross of her ankles, reeked of, well, a conniving, ruthless and yet, still likeable person. They were all likeable, and I was surprised. The play is set in its original time and place: 1955 the American South. I love the Guthrie and they did a masterful job with this play.

February 20, 2012 by

Political Science, Uncategorized

Deborah Tannen coming to St. Thomas

I love Deborah Tannen and she’s coming to UST. I have heard her speak; she’s an excellent speaker. And her writing is even better. St. Thomas Libraries have many of her books. I have copies of my own. Her analysis of the way men and women communicate and the way different parts of the country speak, just delights me. It all makes sense AND is backed up with data. When New Yorkers trample all over your sentence, or you wait not too patiently for non-interrupters to finish their sentences, or your female boss gives you direction that you assume is a suggestion not a directive, the why all becomes clear in her books.

She will be speaking for the third annual Public Discourse Lecture, hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences and its Board of Advisors.

The event will be at O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Auditorium Thursday, February 16, 2012 – Thursday, February 16, 2012 from 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM. It’s free and open to the public.

February 6, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials, Political Science, Uncategorized

CIAO : What’s New, What’s Old, What’s Unique

ciao[columbia international affairs online] has unique content that every political scientist should love.

Unfortunately, most of it is not indexed by Summon because most of it is not journal articles so you have to go into the database itself. It includes books! Well, really book chapters – seldom is the whole book included; some of the included journals are also just abstracts. Sigh. Wait, wait that’s the bad news! The good news is there are case studies, working papers that are unique and there are ready-made course packs – faculty member are you seeing this? In partnership with the Economist it has current videos, too. The atlas has information you might find elsewhere in bits and pieces, but in ciao, it’s all in there (like Ragu) – politics AND economy AND organized for easy access. It includes analysis, background, structure and outlook for both the politics and the economy for each country. With handy maps that allow you to click on the country you care about. Let me know what you think about ciao.

January 31, 2012 by

Business & Economics, Libraries, News & Events, Uncategorized

It’s baaaack: The PNC Christmas Price Index!

CPI

Did you know? Each holiday season, your favorite UST business librarians anxiously await the release of one of our favorite traditions:the PNC “Christmas Price Index!”

The PNC CPI tracks how much it would cost to buy each of the 78 gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” PNC has been doing this every year since 1984, so they really know their stuff. For those of you who aren’t some of my amazing Finance students, this CPI is a play on the “Consumer Price Index,” which tracks the changes in price of goods and services like housing, clothing, food, and transportation that reflect American consumers’ spending habits.

PNC makes a fun website every year depicting their CPI and allowing us to discover the costs of each individual gift; this year we get to hop aboard the “Index Express” railway. As we travel through “Fluctuation Farm,” “Inflation Station,” “Index Falls,” and “Percentage Peak” to hear how the golden rings, partridges in pear trees, ladies dancing, and more are faring in the markets.

CPI Express

And the results? The 2011 CPI increased by 3.5% over last year – to (drummers drumming please):

$24,263.18

The largest increases were for the poultry this year: the Two Turtle Doves (25%) the Partridge in the Pear Tree (14.2%), the Swans-a-Swimming (12.5%), and Geese-a-Laying (8%). The Four Calling Birds were left out of this trend, with a 13.3% decrease. Four French Hens remained constant at $150, as did the price of Ladies Dancing ($6,294.03) and Lords-a-Leaping ($4766.70), although the dancers did get a large salary increase last year. And, as some of you who follow the markets might predict, the cost of everyone’s perennial favorite, Five Golden Rings, is at $645 – a decrease of 0.8% from last year.

cpigraphic

If you do a Summon search on the Twelve Days of Christmas, there are nearly 73,000 items – which is an increase of over 325% from last year! Included are thousands of books, videos, music, and more to help get you in a holiday spirit (and perhaps help you out of finals doldrums?) from some our favorite authors and artists. Check them out!

Happy Holidays!

December 8, 2011 by

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