Anybody out there still think that Amy Bishop, though a murderer, may have been inappropriately turned down for tenure? How would you like to see evidence that she is an academic fraud?
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on her low rate of publication -- one peer-reviewed article a year in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and none in 2007 or 2008. But what about 2009 when she published 3 articles? Isn't that impressive?
Well, let's look at one of them. It was published in the "International Journal of General Medicine." Forget the fact that the Chronicle of Higher Education calls the journal "little-known". Forget the fact that the it's a vanity journal, which only has an "honorary" rather than a real editorial board and which rapidly accepts and publishes almost anything submitted, as long as the author pays the publication fee of many hundreds of dollars. Forget the fact that the journal is published by "Dove Medical Press," which is infamous for spamming people about its fraudulant journals. Here's the kicker--Bishop almost certainly listed her own minor children as the lead authors of the article! Here's the screen shot in case the article is removed:
Yes, that's right. The five authors listed, in order, are:
Lily B Anderson (Cherokee Labsystems, Huntsville, AL USA)
Phaedra B Anderson (Cherokee Labsystems, Huntsville, AL USA)
Thea B Anderson (Cherokee Labsystems, Huntsville, AL USA)
Amy Bishop (Department of Biology, University of Alabama in Huntsville)
James Anderson (Department of Biology, University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Well, Amy is the fourth author, and the last author is her husband. Who then are the other three listed? Well, according to this article, two of her children's names are Thea and Phaeder (probably a misspelling). Any guesses as to who Lily might be? (They have four children, who, as of this month, are reportedly ages 9 to 18).
This info was reported in depth by the blogger on Shepherds and Black Sheep, who did some additional sleuthing on the matter, finding out, among other things, that the claimed address for "Cherokee Labsystems" (listed as the institutional affiliation of the three first authors) is actually a residential home, not a laboratory at all. Have a look at the piece on Shepherds and Black Sheep. It's quite detailed.
The tenure system in the U.S. is already under attack. Perhaps there are ways it could be improved. But this Alabama case has about as much to do with problems with the tenure system as the O.J. Simpson case has to do with problems with waiters.
Instead of questioning UAH's fairness in determining tenure, let's instead remember and honor the three victims of this murder of this murder, who, by all accounts, were terrific scholars and wonderful human beings.
