Fifty Years of Evolution in Biological Research

Jacques Balthazart is a biologist at the University of Liège, Belgium, who specializes in the control of reproductive behavior by sex hormones. He is the author of more than 500 scientific publications and several books of universal appeal dealing with sexual differences in behavior between men and women.

• Preface ixAcknowledgments xiIntroduction xvChapter 1 The Evolution of Techniques 11.1 Hormone assays 11.2 Techniques for the identification of steroid hormone action sites in the brain 31.3 Molecular biology and sequencing techniques 41.4 Controlled modification of gene expression 71.5 Techniques for temporarily modifying the activity of neurons 91.6 The rise of the computer and the personal computer 111.7 Appearance and development of the Internet 18Chapter 2 The Profound Modification of Research Conditions 232.1 The evolution of research funding 242.2 The current funding situation: multiple sources of grants that are difficult to control 272.3 Ever-increasing constraints 292.3.1 Administrative tasks 292.3.2 Risk management 302.3.3 Animal welfare 33Chapter 3 The Computer and its Consequences in Terms of Work 393.1 Changing the flow of scientific information 393.2 Scientific information management in laboratories 433.3 Data processing and preparation of scientific publications 46Chapter 4 The Development of Publishing Giants and Open Access 514.1 The evolution of publishing houses 514.2 Open access: advantages and disadvantages 534.3 Unexpected consequence of open access: predatory journals 544.4 Reactions 58Chapter 5 The Invention of Journal Impact Factors 635.1 The development of bibliometrics 635.2 Disadvantages and limitations 655.3 Use for the evaluation of researchers 68Chapter 6 The Race to Publish and the Inadequate Methods of Evaluating Researchers 736.1 Increasingly abundant publications 736.2 Evaluation of researchers and grant applications 76Chapter 7 The Consequences: An Overall Deterioration of Research Quality 817.1 The "bad", not very rigorous, science 817.1.1 Cognitive biases 827.1.2 The absence of randomization 837.1.3 The use of poorly validated techniques 857.1.4 The low power of the studies 867.1.5 Misuse of statistics and pseudoreplication 877.1.6 Probability hacking (P-hacking) 897.1.7 Inadequate presentation of results 917.2 Scientific fraud 957.2.1 Data selection 957.2.2 Partial or total data fabrication 967.2.3 Plagiarism 97Chapter 8 The Scientific Community's Fight Against these Aberrations 1018.1 Peer review 1018.2 Post-publication criticism by the entire scientific community 1038.3 Withdrawal of erroneous or fraudulent items 104Chapter 9 Essential Modifications 1099.1 The publication process and peer review 1109.2 Pre-registration of studies 1129.3 The reward system 114Chapter 10 The Loss of Confidence in Science and the Return of the Irrational 11710.1 A disaffection for science 11810.2 The development of irrational beliefs 12010.2.1 Creationism and the denial of evolution 12010.2.2 Platism and the flat Earth theory 12110.2.3 The rejection of Western medicine based on evidence 12210.3 Social networks, fake news, post-truth and alternative truths 124Chapter 11 The Solution(s) 12911.1 Popularizing research results by researchers themselves 12911.2 Develop critical thinking skills 13011.3 Expanding an understanding of basic statistics to the general public 13111.4 Controlling misinformation using social networks 134Conclusion 137References 141Index 151