There’s a ridiculous paper published last year by the Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. Scientists wonder how this paper made it to publication, sneaking past peer-review analysis that scientific papers are known for.
The paper, which amongst other things, asserts that there is a black hole at the center of the earth, made it to an actual scientific journal, and mainstream scientists are at a loss on what could have led to this.
The paper made outrageous claims and starts off with an abstract that says: “Recently, some scientists from NASA have claimed that there may be a black hole-like structure at the center of the earth.” It goes on to say: “We show that the existence of life on the earth may be a reason that this black hole like object is a black brane that has formed from biological materials like DNA.”
For anyone with a sound background in the sciences, the paper is simply a mumble-jumble of high-sounding scientific words that reek of unfounded conspiracy theories.
Although published about a year ago by about 13 scientists, this paper is only beginning to attract interest from reputable scientists who are furious on how such paper could have ended up, in what appears from the look of things, to be a credible journal.
While some aspects of the paper correspond with research that has already been published by researchers in leading universities around the world, its primary contents, especially its argument about the earth having a black hole formed by a DNA-like substance, is, at best, something one will find in a sensational tabloid.
However, there might be some explanations, after all, on how this paper ended up in a perceived reputable journal. One such explanation is coming from a leading mathematician from Cambridge University, Sarah Rasmussen.
Rasmussen says this current scenario is an attempt by the purported authors of the paper to expose the ineptitude of “predatory journals” who are rather poor at critically assessing papers from authors before they get published. These journals, which may pride themselves as being objective and peer-reviewed publications, are nothing but publications set up to make money from publication fees at the detrimental of putting out critically reviewed papers.
A leading author of the current paper in question had previously published a paper decrying the threats that predatory journals pose to the scientific community.
It may be recalled that the journal in question, the Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, way back in 2013 failed a test by Science, which sought to find out publications that were never really peer-reviewed papers but that were brought before it.
So, while there isn’t any black hole in the center of the earth, the Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences may have found itself in a really tight black hole with its recent goof.
Source: popularmechanics.com
