“Not everything that is published is true or important” and “always be critical, but not cynical,” urges Jim Reekers, editor-in-chief of CVIR Endovascular, as he talks about filters that operate in the world of scientific and medical publishing that favour the publication and spread of positive news. He particularly warns against the “silent and very dangerous” trend of unscrutinised, non-peer reviewed papers that are presented as pre-prints with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, enabling the creation of a parallel publishing universe.
“Nobody knows what the truth is anymore, and I think that this the biggest threat to medical science,” he states.
Reekers delivered the 2020 BSIR Wattie Fletcher Lecture on similar themes titled “Extra extra read all about it”.
