University World News, 4/21

Scholars look for ways to restore respect for expertise

By Mary Beth Marklein

A gathering of United States scholars last week took up the question of how their work can remain relevant in a 'post-truth' era, when alternative facts can influence public policy and fake news can be leveraged to try to swing election results. The scholars also took themselves to task, acknowledging how they may be enabling the assault on their stock-in-trade, evidence and expertise, if only by remaining silent. Arguing for a need to "re-emphasize standards of trustworthiness and rigor," Wayne State University Education Professor Carolyn Shields suggested that ongoing pressure to publish, fortified by a proliferation of predatory journals and publishers, augments the potential for shoddy research to be legitimized.
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180421044000654