Smut Clyde, X-Ray Haruspex
@smutclyde.bsky.social
Hyperbolic Tangent Distributed Observer. Snark is my first language.
This is *not* how to plagiarise text by asking Chat-GPT to paraphrase it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:33 AM
This is *not* how to plagiarise text by asking Chat-GPT to paraphrase it.
One of the first papermills was 'MedChina' - a Dr Jia-Li Liu - following a template to churn out fake meta-analysis papers.
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
November 6, 2025 at 4:16 AM
One of the first papermills was 'MedChina' - a Dr Jia-Li Liu - following a template to churn out fake meta-analysis papers.
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
forbetterscience.com/2022/06/07/t...
12 years too late, the editors of Gene finally got around to checking the .doc metadata of the manuscript.
pubpeer.com/publications...
So I thought that Elsevier was already as enshittified as possible. I was wrong.
November 4, 2025 at 4:19 AM
So I thought that Elsevier was already as enshittified as possible. I was wrong.
A friend recognised the tree.
November 2, 2025 at 10:04 PM
A friend recognised the tree.
I have some doubts about Figures 2 and 3 as well.
October 31, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I have some doubts about Figures 2 and 3 as well.
"Additionally, the author stated that they have used AI tools for generating some images, including Fig. 1."
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
October 31, 2025 at 5:42 PM
"Additionally, the author stated that they have used AI tools for generating some images, including Fig. 1."
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reviewers and editors could not work that out for themselves.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Professor D. W. Christiani proudly added her papers on Yan-Xin Magic Water to her Harvard profile, which is how we know that she is the same D. W.
forbetterscience.com/wp-content/u...
Though she scrubbed them after Dr Bik started asking questions.
She also showed that Magic Water prevents AIDS.
forbetterscience.com/wp-content/u...
Though she scrubbed them after Dr Bik started asking questions.
She also showed that Magic Water prevents AIDS.
October 24, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Professor D. W. Christiani proudly added her papers on Yan-Xin Magic Water to her Harvard profile, which is how we know that she is the same D. W.
forbetterscience.com/wp-content/u...
Though she scrubbed them after Dr Bik started asking questions.
She also showed that Magic Water prevents AIDS.
forbetterscience.com/wp-content/u...
Though she scrubbed them after Dr Bik started asking questions.
She also showed that Magic Water prevents AIDS.
No no, Delia Wolf wasn't involved in the magic egg experiments, but in magic protection of neurons in petri dishes.
pubpeer.com/search?q=%22...
pubpeer.com/search?q=%22...
October 24, 2025 at 8:16 AM
No no, Delia Wolf wasn't involved in the magic egg experiments, but in magic protection of neurons in petri dishes.
pubpeer.com/search?q=%22...
pubpeer.com/search?q=%22...
Today I realised that the 'Madonna in the Dry Tree' was a stock image, and the original owner of the version in the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum didn't want to pay Petrus Christus to paint a legitimate copy, which is why it's adorned with the little 'A's of the Alamy watermark.
October 23, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Today I realised that the 'Madonna in the Dry Tree' was a stock image, and the original owner of the version in the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum didn't want to pay Petrus Christus to paint a legitimate copy, which is why it's adorned with the little 'A's of the Alamy watermark.
My views on journals that use Algerian typeface in the logo are strong, and not necessarily positive.
I see that the publisher in this case is based in Libya. There is a perfectly good 'Libya Alahrar' font they could have used. Preferably not the 'Tripoli' font, which is loud and shouty.
I see that the publisher in this case is based in Libya. There is a perfectly good 'Libya Alahrar' font they could have used. Preferably not the 'Tripoli' font, which is loud and shouty.
October 23, 2025 at 1:01 AM
My views on journals that use Algerian typeface in the logo are strong, and not necessarily positive.
I see that the publisher in this case is based in Libya. There is a perfectly good 'Libya Alahrar' font they could have used. Preferably not the 'Tripoli' font, which is loud and shouty.
I see that the publisher in this case is based in Libya. There is a perfectly good 'Libya Alahrar' font they could have used. Preferably not the 'Tripoli' font, which is loud and shouty.
The editors of ACS Omega cheerfully accepted the authors' excuses and replacement image for this weird shit.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 11:34 PM
The editors of ACS Omega cheerfully accepted the authors' excuses and replacement image for this weird shit.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
H/t Leonid @forbetterscience.bsky.social
Weirdest name for a dog appears in the lyrics of Astronomy.
October 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Weirdest name for a dog appears in the lyrics of Astronomy.
Nearly 70 years ago, the locals tried to convince Thor Heyerdahl that "we walked them into place", but he wasn't convinced.
October 22, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Nearly 70 years ago, the locals tried to convince Thor Heyerdahl that "we walked them into place", but he wasn't convinced.
Since the millers were also editors of the Special Issue they didn't care about making sense, only filling space. The clients who paid to be listed as authors cared even less.
We also encounter "Hugh change", which would have been "Hough Transform" in an unknown source document about iris scanning.
We also encounter "Hugh change", which would have been "Hough Transform" in an unknown source document about iris scanning.
October 2, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Since the millers were also editors of the Special Issue they didn't care about making sense, only filling space. The clients who paid to be listed as authors cared even less.
We also encounter "Hugh change", which would have been "Hough Transform" in an unknown source document about iris scanning.
We also encounter "Hugh change", which would have been "Hough Transform" in an unknown source document about iris scanning.
Another retracted piece from the Same SI was even more bonkers: the millers took a paper about surgeons using head movements to control telesurgery, & engarbled it to be about guards controlling a (murderous) Security Robot. Producing novel concepts like 'camera skillet'.
sci-hub.se/10.3233/WOR-...
sci-hub.se/10.3233/WOR-...
October 2, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Another retracted piece from the Same SI was even more bonkers: the millers took a paper about surgeons using head movements to control telesurgery, & engarbled it to be about guards controlling a (murderous) Security Robot. Producing novel concepts like 'camera skillet'.
sci-hub.se/10.3233/WOR-...
sci-hub.se/10.3233/WOR-...
I grieve to report that this absolute mantlepiece of text engarblement has been depublished. Along with 13 others from the same thoroughly fraudulent Special Issue.
pubpeer.com/publications...
I included it in this report from the fake-science economy:
forbetterscience.com/2024/06/17/r...
pubpeer.com/publications...
I included it in this report from the fake-science economy:
forbetterscience.com/2024/06/17/r...
October 1, 2025 at 4:27 AM
I grieve to report that this absolute mantlepiece of text engarblement has been depublished. Along with 13 others from the same thoroughly fraudulent Special Issue.
pubpeer.com/publications...
I included it in this report from the fake-science economy:
forbetterscience.com/2024/06/17/r...
pubpeer.com/publications...
I included it in this report from the fake-science economy:
forbetterscience.com/2024/06/17/r...
PRO-TIP: You don't have to copy-paste *everything* from the Chatbot response straight into your scholarly manuscript.
October 1, 2025 at 12:36 AM
PRO-TIP: You don't have to copy-paste *everything* from the Chatbot response straight into your scholarly manuscript.
Keep fish and seals and cetaceans out of the sea - they injure the pollutants.
September 26, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Keep fish and seals and cetaceans out of the sea - they injure the pollutants.
Flashbacks to these guys playing at the old Bodega.
September 25, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Flashbacks to these guys playing at the old Bodega.
Not really.
September 25, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Not really.
Disappointingly, NOT a sequel to 'The Little Mole who knew it was None of His Business'.
September 21, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Disappointingly, NOT a sequel to 'The Little Mole who knew it was None of His Business'.