A New Low for PLOS ONE

Well, this paper in PLOS ONE demonstrates in epic fashion that this journal is a predatory journal.

Quoting the paper's abstract: The explicit functional link indicates that the biomechanical characteristic of tendinous connective architecture between muscles and articulations is the proper design by the Creator to perform a multitude of daily tasks in a comfortable way.

This kind of statement should not be allowed in a scientific paper.

(Tip of the cap to Sang Hoon Lee.)

Update: This paper has also been discussed in Easter Eggs in Scientific Papers.

Update (3/05/16): Oh look, PLOS ONE continues to be careful about how they go about doing things.

Update (3/07/16): Here is Aaron Clauset's take on more general situations in publishing, with the recent PLOS ONE debacle as the backdrop for these larger issues. (My view of the journal is considerably less generous than his, perhaps because they have been failing epically with mathematics ever since their inception.)

Major Props to Baseball Journalist Keith Law!

I first heard about this from my high school classmate Jeremy Booth, and now IFLS is reporting about the Twitter discussion between baseball journalist Keith Law and Curt Schilling. Major props to Keith Law for his science advocacy!