In Science Fictions, Ritchie argues that modern scientific research suffers from a number of issues – including outright fraud; publication bias and human bias; negligence and error; and sensationalism through media hype – that undermine its ability to be objective and accurate.[4] He describes methodological issues involved in the replication crisis, such as p-hacking, as well as broader systemic issues, such as perverse incentives in the peer review process and the problem of null results being difficult or impossible to publish, leading to under-reporting of many important findings.[2] He also details the ways in which technology such as Photoshop has made it easier for researchers to commit subtle but serious fraud.[5]
Throughout the book, Ritchie offers examples of egregious fraud in scientific research, such as the misleading studies on trachea replacement published by Paolo Macchiarini that led to his patients dying and was covered up for years by the institutions supporting the research. But he also points out less obvious, pervasive fraud – for example, a survey that found evidence of manipulated images in 4% of the 20,000 scientific papers analyzed.[2] He argues that even well-intentioned researchers can be tempted to over-hype their results or repeat experiments until they receive the result they wanted simply by the desire to gain fame or advance their career. In the final chapter, Ritchie offers possible solutions for improving the methodology, incentives, and outcomes of scientific research, such as encouraging researchers to pre-register their work to avoid the temptation to alter their conclusions to fit the outcome, and using technology to identify common errors that can creep into and distort statistical analysis.[6]
