Academic papers are hidden from the public. Here’s some direct action.

September 16th, 2011 by Ben Goldacre in academic publishing, bullying | 49 Comments »

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 3 September 2011

This week George Monbiot won the internet with a long Guardian piece on academic publishers. For those who didn’t know: academics, funded mostly by the public purse, pay for the production and dissemination of academic papers; but for historical reasons, these are published by private organisations who charge around $30 per academic paper, keeping out any reader who doesn’t have access through their institution. Read the rest of this entry »

Kids who spot bullshit, and the adults who get upset about it

June 4th, 2011 by Ben Goldacre in brain gym, bullying, childishness, schools | 36 Comments »

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 28 May 2011

If you can tear yourself away from Ryan Giggs’ penis for just one moment, I have a different censorship story.


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Pharmaco-epidemiology would be fascinating enough even if society didn’t manage it really really badly

July 17th, 2010 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, big pharma, bullying, publication bias, regulating research, trial registers | 22 Comments »

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 17 July 2010

This week the FDA voted not to ban GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug rosiglitazone (brand name Avandia). Their vote has been reported as a victory for the company. I don’t think so: this saga tells an ugly story about our collective medical incompetence.

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