Forensic Meta Science Workshop

In this workshop, organized by the Swiss RN Academy, participants will receive an introduction to forensic metascience, or the science of detecting errors in the published literature.

The workshop will motivate the need for forensic metascience and include practical sessions to equip participants with concrete tools and techniques to assess scientific papers for errors and inconsistencies. Topics covered include:

• The rise of academic paper mills: Paper mills are commercial entities that offer fraudulent publication services, including the sale of authorships on fabricated papers. How serious is the threat of paper mills to the scientific literature, and what can we do as individual researchers and reviewers to counter it?
• Tools to critically check summary statistics: This workshop is for any researchers who wish to detect errors in scientific papers. The need to check summary statistics for accuracy has been recognized ever more strongly, but many researchers lack the required tools and know-how. Here, we will learn about and practice methods to check whether the statistics reported in scientific articles are mathematically possible and plausible. No technical skills are required.

This workshop also doubles as a useful primer for the upcoming Ringvorlesung Fake Science at UZH.
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• Thursday, September 3, 13:15-17:00
• Venue: UZH KO2-G-275 (main building)
• Capacity: 30 seats
• Please register for the event here