The Problem

Science is hard on a good day — and there aren’t that many good days. To publish good work a researcher must be diligent, earnest, and honest, all at once, all the time. Pressures from every direction do not always permit this. Publishers are the gatekeepers, but they have conflicting interests at the heart of their jobs.

Critical reading is everyone’s job. But those most needing to read critically, journalists and policy makers, may themselves not believe they have time or expertise to judge published science adequately. The aim of this site and its companion book are to give lay readers insight and tools needed to read critically. Typical challenges faced by researchers, and how they too often fail to meet them, are documented. Guidelines to judge work critically are developed based on real examples.