Feltman R - 2014 - Two scientific journals accepted a study by Maggie Simpson and Edna Krabappel

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Science 
Two scientific journals accepted a 
study by Maggie Simpson and Edna 
Krabappel 
I missed the episode where she got her doctorate. (AP Photo/Fox Broacasting Co.) 
By 
Rachel Feltman 
Freelancer, Editor at Popular Science Magazine 
Dec. 8, 2014 at 5:40 p.m. GMT-3 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/rachel-feltman/
A pair of scientific journals accepted a nonsense paper from a made-up university 
with author names borrowed from "The Simpsons" TV show. 
Whoops. 
Other science journals have been duped by dummy papers. Last month we wrote 
about "Get me off Your F**king Mailing List," a riveting piece of scientific 
literature accidentally submitted to (and unexpectedly accepted by) a pay-for-play 
journal. 
But the Simpson-themed bogus paper was submitted on purpose, Vox reports, in the 
hope of trapping a bad science journal in the act. Journals are meant to use a system 
called peer review -- where scientists read each other's papers to see if they seem 
reasonable -- to vet the articles they consider for publication. But in the age of the 
Internet, there are lots of publications that forgo peer review -- even if they claim to 
have rigorous standards. And some of these journals spam scientists, essentially 
offering to publish anything they send in for a fee. 
AD 
Unlike the mailing list paper, this one isn't just a series of expletives. A quick skim 
wouldn't give the study away as false. But a cursory read (and a quick Googling of the 
authors) would do so immediately. The opening summary of the paper reads: 
The Ethernet must work. In this paper, we confirm the improvement of e-commerce. 
WEKAU, our new methodology for forward-error correction, is the solution to all of 
these challenges. 
You don't have to be an expert in ethernet connections or e-commerce to know that 
those are just a bunch of words strung together (in fact, it was created using 
a random text generator). And you don't need to be a TV junkie to know that Maggie 
Simpson is a cartoon character. 
And also a baby. 
"I wanted first and foremost to come up with something that gives out the fake 
immediately," the actual author of the paper, Alex Smolyanitsky, told Vox. "My only 
regret is that the second author isn't Ralph Wiggum." 
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/11/24/shoddy-scientific-journal-accepts-paper-titled-get-me-off-your-fking-mailing-list/?tid=lk_inline_manual_4&itid=lk_inline_manual_4
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/11/24/shoddy-scientific-journal-accepts-paper-titled-get-me-off-your-fking-mailing-list/?tid=lk_inline_manual_4&itid=lk_inline_manual_4
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/7/7339587/simpsons-science-paper
https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2522068/manuscript_Networking_Simpson.0.pdf
http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/7/7339587/simpsons-science-paper