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A Torrid Tale of Plagiarizing Paleontologists

its hard to think of writes "There's an interesting story up at Nature News about scientific ethics. It seems that while one group of scientists is figuring out details about aetosaurs (ancient crocodiles), another group in New Mexico is repeatedly taking credit for their work and naming the new animals they 'discover'. It also looks like the state government, which has been asked to intervene, is trying to sidestep the issue. 'The New Mexico cultural-affairs department, which oversees the museum, conducted a review of two of the instances last October and concluded that the allegations were groundless. But some experts call that review a whitewash, claiming that it failed to follow accepted practices of US academic institutions faced with claims of misconduct. Now all three cases are before the Ethics Education Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, a professional organization based in Northbrook, Illinois, which is awaiting responses from the New Mexico team before making a ruling.' How widespread is this kind of thing?"

14 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. meh, it's just science by hachete · · Score: 1, Funny

    in before Creationist shitstorm

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    Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
  2. Oh no! by BeeBeard · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm not holding out much hope for the new Beebeardosaur I found yesterday in the Houston Museum of Natural Science! :(

  3. Wow, that group from Poland really got boned by Eternal+Vigilance · · Score: 2, Funny

    Soon to be seen on another site... "Digg this up!"

    (What? Digg doesn't have a paleontology section?)

  4. Tag Winnar by Sta7ic · · Score: 2, Funny

    "whendidnewmexicostartbelievingindinosaurs" wins the "Best Tag" award for this article. (but ouch!)

  5. Re:Good luck. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you think that is bad, think of me man! Some slashdotter named commisaro totally ripped off a comment I was thinking of posting. Talk about preemptive plagiarism!!!

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  6. professional groups by phrostie · · Score: 3, Funny

    it was bound to happen where two professional organizations have bone to pick with each other.

  7. Re:A horrid hail of annoying alliteration! by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Methinks they have a reptile dysfunction.

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    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
  8. Re:Wtf? by Rogerborg · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think "Zonk" is the name of the script. The last human "editor" left to "work" at BoingBoing 3 years ago.

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    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  9. Re:Not very by nilbud · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have been surprised at how many times I've been plagiarized by papers that cite my own. Clearly, they're not trying to hide anything, or they wouldn't have bothered to cite the paper that they're copying from, but there seem to be many authors who don't see anything wrong with lifting a paragraph and just changing a couple of words. Certainly the few I've contacted about doing this have seemed very surprised that I should think there's anything wrong with it. Obviously this kind of thing isn't as serious as what's being alleged in TFA, since none of them were claiming credit for my ideas or work, but I think it is laziness and dishonesty to grab something that's someone else's rather than doing it yourself.

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    never let a man put his dirty how-do-you-do into your bajingo
  10. The summary got it wrong by obeythefist · · Score: 2, Funny

    They misspelled "eatosaurs". Which is certainly appropriate for ancient crocodiles!

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    I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
  11. Not the EECoSVP! by meta-monkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gasp, taken before the Ethics Education Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology?! They must be shaking in their pith helmets!

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    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  12. Re:Not very by repapetilto · · Score: 4, Funny

    you forgot the citation

  13. Re:This isn't really new by Sanat · · Score: 2, Funny

    New Mexico is not Mexico

    No, but at its present rate... it soon will be.

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    And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make
  14. Re:Not very by 1_brown_mouse · · Score: 2, Funny

    The word paraphrasing has lost all meaning.

    Meaning, the word paraphrasing has lost it.

    Obviously, the word paraphrasing does not mean what it used to.

    I do not thing he knows what the word paraphrasing means anymore.

    He obviously does not know what paraphrasing means.

    Paraphrasing has obviously lost all meaning as a word. /etc.