Condemning Predatory Journals/Publishers: Nature

This week's Nature has run yet another publication condemning the evil of predatory publication. However, there is a twist in the tale as the authors have found that authors from high-income countries also publish in these journals quite often! A group of authors spent a whole year combing through 2000 articles published in 200 potentially … Continue reading Condemning Predatory Journals/Publishers: Nature

#VisualAbstracts: Humans, Bats, Trees, Culture and Nipah Virus Transmission

A recent publication in the CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal talks about the factors related to the emergence of zoonotic infections. They have studied Nipah virus infections in man. This is another effort to bring visual abstracts for infectious disease publications of interest to me. The abstract of the paper: Preventing emergence of new zoonotic … Continue reading #VisualAbstracts: Humans, Bats, Trees, Culture and Nipah Virus Transmission

Penile Transplantation: No, this is not Spam mail – this is real!

Anyone with an email account has received tips on how to augment their male anatomy. And while this might sound like content right out of such an email, it is, in fact, not so! A patient in South Africa received an allotransplanted penis, after he suffered tissue loss due to a botched traditional ritual circumcision … Continue reading Penile Transplantation: No, this is not Spam mail – this is real!

Visual Abstract: Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness in USA (2015-2016)

This week's NEJM has published the results from the Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network's estimates of the effectiveness of the influenza vaccines in the United States of America in 2015-2016. The paper highlights some interesting details and I thought it would be a good chance to try out using the paper to jot down a visual … Continue reading Visual Abstract: Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness in USA (2015-2016)

Predatory Open Access: Part 3 – Research Spoofs and Publication Faux-Pas

Ever since the Science paper came out earlier this week, the world of academia has been a-flutter with excitement and controlled outrage. In the midst of all this, I decided to do a series of posts examining the situation at hand. This is the third and concluding portion of the series and prior to this: Predatory Open … Continue reading Predatory Open Access: Part 3 – Research Spoofs and Publication Faux-Pas