Neuroscientist Trolls Science Journals With Star Wars-Themed Paper

Fans of the popular Star Wars franchise will be more than familiar with the so-called “midi-chlorian” and all the various jargons used in the properties. If these fans read a paper published in several journals posing as legitimate sources of scientific fact, they would likely choke on their coffee. It’s basically a higher form of trolling and it was done by a neuroscientist.

The neuroscientist in question is a regular contributor to the Discover Magazine and goes by the user name, Neuroskeptic. In the article that he wrote about his little experiment, Neuro notes how he filled the published paper with nonsensical Star Wars terms and even clear examples of plagiarism.

The activity basically boiled down to a sting operation in order to prove that some journals posing as legitimate scientific resources could not be counted on to actually research the papers they were publishing. This has been done in the past, with another scientist writing a bogus paper about the health benefits of dark chocolate and the health industry ate it all up.

“Four journals fell for the sting. The American Journal of Medical and Biological Research (SciEP) accepted the paper, but asked for a $360 fee, which I didn’t pay. Amazingly, three other journals not only accepted but actually published the spoof,” Neuroskeptic wrote.

A quick scan of any of the papers submitted should have been enough to reject these blatant travesties. Not only did they make numerous movie references, some even outright admitted that they got their information from Wikipedia, Futurism notes.

The writer of these papers was also quick to point out that the target predatory journals are also known for harassing scientists with spam, asking them to publish papers on their platforms. Clearly, those who declined are wise beyond their years since such journals should not only be ignored but also revealed for the frauds they are.