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Zusatztext Pacchionis eminently readable description of the structure and practice of modern science, including many of its foibles, will be added to my recommended reading list for scientific neophytes, veteran practitioners and those seeking to understand how modern science works. In an easy and elegant style he covers the full range of scientific activity including graduate training to the exigencies of employment, the execution of experiments, the culture of publishing, the ramifications of explosion of the scientific population and the unfortunate examples of fraud. Highly recommended. Informationen zum Autor Gianfranco Pacchioni is Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Milano Bicocca. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the Free University of Berlin. He has worked at the IBM Almaden Research Center in California and at the Technical University of Munich. His main interests are theory and electronic structure of oxides (bulk, surface, thin films, nanostructures), supported metal clusters, materials for catalysis, photocatalysis and energy production.Pacchioni has received various awards, including the Nasini Medal and the Pisani Medal of the Italian Chemical Society, the National Prize "Federchimica," the Alexander von Humboldt Award, and the Blaise Pascal Medal of the European Academy of Sciences. He is Fellow of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Academia Europaea, and the European Academy of Sciences. Klappentext The way science is done has changed radically in recent years. Scientific research and institutions, which have long been characterized by passion, dedication and reliability, have increasingly less capacity for more ethical pursuits, and are pressed by hard market laws. From the vocation of afew, science has become the profession of many -- possibly too many. These trends come with consequences and risks, such as the rise in fraud, plagiarism, and in particular the sheer volume of scientific publications, often of little relevance. The solution? A slow approach with more emphasis onquality rather than quantity that will help us to rediscover the essential role of the responsible scientist. This work is a critical review and assessment of present-day policies and behavior in scientific production and publication. It touches on the tumultuous growth of scientific journals, in parallel with the growth of self-declared scientists over the world. The author's own reflections andexperiences help us to understand the mechanisms of contemporary science. Along with personal reminiscences of times past, the author investigates the loopholes and hoaxes of pretend journals and nonexistent congresses, so common today in the scientific arena. The book also discusses the problems ofbibliometric indices, which have resulted in large part from the above distortions of scientific life. Zusammenfassung This is a critical assessment of policies and behaviour in science production and publication, touching upon the tumultuous growth of scientific journals in parallel with the growth of self-declared scientists worldwide. The author investigates these problems of science and how this can seriously affect the relationship between science and society. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1: No progress without basic science 2: The way we were: make science in the last century 3: Publish or perish 4: Judges and defendants 5: Unit of measurement 6: Are we too many? 7: Famous frauds 8: Do we still believe in science? ...
