Should You Trust Science?

Evidence indicates up to half of medical literature may be fraudulent. According to the former editor of the British Medical Journal Richard Smith, it’s “time to assume that health research is fraudulent unless proved otherwise.” In an August 6 analysis piece posted on the British Medical Journal website, Smith reported that Ben Mol, professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Monash Health, had recently estimated that “20 percent of clinical trial results are fraudulent.”

Having been concerned about research fraud for over 40 years, Smith was unsurprised by Professor Mol’s view. “It led me to think that the time may have come to stop assuming that research actually happened and is honestly reported, and assume that the research is fraudulent until there is some evidence to support it having happened and been honestly reported,” wrote Smith.

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