Paul McDevitt
Barking mad
PHILIP CLAPHAM writes to warn us of “predatory journals”: unscrupulous publications willing to print papers of dubious scientific merit in exchange for cash. He reports that one such journal has published “Solicitation of patient consent for bilateral orchiectomy in male canids”, advising that dogs should be asked for consent prior to being neutered. “The authors of this little opinion piece,” says Philip, “are two dogs and a chicken.”
We at Feedback fully support the doctrine of patient consent. As the paper notes, implementing it is challenging given “the current absence of a mutually comprehensible inter specific linguistic system”.…
