Sunday, November 05, 2017

#Wikidata - There is no such thing as a free lunch

Mrs Adriane Fugh-Berman wrote a paper called "Why lunch matters: Assessing physicians' perceptions about industry relationships". There is no such thing as a free lunch and arguably this is exactly what Wikidata is offering to the bio-medical industry.

All the bio-medical papers find their home in Wikidata and there is no mechanism, there is nothing to indicate the many erroneous papers, there is nothing to indicate that specific substances have been banned from use as a medical substance. When Wikipedia is to use Wikidata for information it will be so bad.

Mr Martin Keller is a psychatrist whose reputation was for sale. "His" paper Efficacy of paroxetine in the treatment of adolescent major depression: a randomized, controlled trial has been thoroughly debunked.

At Wikidata there seems to be the notion that facts like this are an affront to its neutrality. It is why there is no mention on the item for Mr Keller; "significant event" "ghostwriting author" was removed.

The problem is that without sufficient debunking potential for ghostwriting authors, their products and their ill effect, there is no possibility to establish the veracity of the bio-medical facts that have been imported in Wikidata. It is vital to the integrity of the Wikidata project that the Mr Kellers of this world are seen for what they are: frauds.
Thanks,
      GerardM

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