The coronavirus crisis has revealed many of the cracks in our lives, and not least of all in the scientific publishing apparatus. At the start of the coronavirus outbreak, we were all desperate for any information on the virus, and it looked like any paper with a coronavirus angle ‘tacked on’ was getting published. Then this snuck through…

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343066384_Cyllage_City_COVID-19_Outbreak_Linked_to_Zubat_Consumption

In this published scientific journal article by the famous, and completely fictitious, Professor Elm, we can read how the spread of the coronavirus in a fictitious city was facilitated by the consumption of Pokemon, the popular videogame characters. The references are particularly hilarious, including publications by Potter H, Weasley R and Grainger H and a posthumous work by George Orwell published in 1984 (obviously!). My personal favourite….Wayne B (2016) Phobia of Bats and Its Applications in Criminal Justice. Gotham Forensics Quarterly 26(8): 807-814.

The authors did not make it difficult for publishers with the line “… a journal publishing this paper does not practice peer review and must therefore be predatory”.

In this current crisis, the veracity of scientific publications are more important than ever. Mainstream media are often reporting on scientific publications (usually without citing the source) and we are all thirsty for knowledge that can help us understand more about the virus. With politicians being ‘led by the science’, the scientific knowledgebase is more important than ever; public policy dictated by scientific finding is having a very real impact upon our lives.

Thanks to the comic genius who submitted this and we should all be a little more cynical of what we read.