User:Yilloslime/Questionable Sources

Sources that "that present themselves to the unwary as independent sources on information and science"[1] but are actually far from independent or far from the mainstream.

Journals

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The following are scientific sounding journals of questionable reliability:

  • Indoor and Built Environment—Funded by Big Tobacco "to promote the idea that indoor air pollution was a problem caused not by secondhand smoke but by inadequate ventilation."[1] New Scientist reported that the journal's goal was to provide "an outlet for material undermining the idea that second-hand smoke is a major cause of illnesses by shifting the blame to building design and ventilation."[2] A paper in The Lancet noted that "there is a serious concern the tobacco industry may have been unduly influential on the content of the journal."[3]
  • Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology—a publication of the International Society for Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, "an association of dominated by scientists who work for industry trade groups and consulting firms." Michaels describes the journal as the "best known" of the "slew" of "vanity journals that present themselves to the unwary as independent sources on information and science, but the peer reviewers are carefully chosen, like-minded corporate consultants sitting in friendly judgement on studies that are exquisitely structured to influence a regulatory proceding or court case."[1] The journal is partially funded by the American Chemistry Council,[4] and the society is sponsored, in part, by the Weinberg Group.
  • Medical Hypotheses: Indexed by PubMed, but not peer-reviewed. Seeks to provide a forum for "unconventional" ideas with minimal editorial "interference"; places responsibility for scientific accuracy and correctness of publications solely on the author's shoulders.
  • Neuroquantology: From the website - "NeuroQuantology is a journal dedicated to supporting the interdisciplinary exploration of the nature of quantum physics and its relation to the nervous system."

Associations and Institutions

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Useful resources for determining reliability

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News Sources

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The following news sources are of questionable reliability:

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Michaels, David (2008). Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195300673.
  2. ^ Their Learned Friends, by David Concar. Published in New Scientist on May 16 1998.
  3. ^ Garne D, Watson M, Chapman S, Byrne F (2005). "Environmental tobacco smoke research published in the journal Indoor and Built Environment and associations with the tobacco industry". Lancet. 365 (9461): 804–9. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)17990-2. PMID 15733724.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "PANUPS: Congress probes chem industry's influence at EPA:". Pesticide Action Network North America. April 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  5. ^ Baum, Rudy (June 9, 2008). "Defending Science". Chemical and Engineering News. 86 (23). American Chemical Society: 5.
  6. ^ Instructions to Authors from the Journal of Scientific Exploration. Accessed May 21 2008.
  7. ^ Questioning HIV/AIDS: Morally Reprehensible or Scientifically Warranted? By Henry Bauer. Published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 2007: Vol 12, No. 4, p. 116.