A completely made-up scientific term is making the rounds in academic journals, and instead of being "oops!" one major publisher is basically saying "this is fine!"
As reported in Retraction Watch, A sharp-eyed Russian chemist (going by the extremely cool pseudonym "Paralabrax clathratus") spotted the weird phrase "vegetative electron microscopy," which makes about as much sense as "photosynthetic hammer" or "reproductive calculator." The term has somehow snuck into nearly two dozen published papers, including one whose senior author is an editor at prestigious publisher Elsevier.
When called out on this obvious nonsense, Elsevier basically said "No no, it's fine! It's just a shorter way of saying 'electron microscopy of vegetative structures'" which is like saying "vegetative car" is a dandy way to describe "a car that drives past vegetables."
The whole mess might have started when an AI got confused reading a 1959 paper where "vegetative" appeared in one column next to "electron microscopy" in another.
"They are taking a piss without even pulling their pants down, aren't they?" said Alexander Magazinov, a software engineer in Kazakhstan who helped investigate the linguistic train wreck. And really, what more needs to be said?
Previously:
• Germany-wide consortium of research libraries announce boycott of Elsevier journals over open access
• Elsevier: 'It's illegal to Sci-Hub.' Also Elsevier: 'We link to Sci-Hub all the time.'
• Elsevier withdraws support from Research Works Act, bill collapses
• Swedish ISP punishes Elsevier for forcing it to block Sci-Hub by also blocking Elsevier
• University of California system libraries break off negotiations with Elsevier, will no longer order their journals
• Elsevier sends copyright threat to site for linking to Sci-Hub
• ISP that protested being ordered to block Sci-Hub by blocking Elsevier and government agencies now under threat for 'Net Neutrality' violations
