This is Part 2 of a two-part podcast series on academic fraud from Freakonomics.com hosted by Stephen Dubner. (See here for the TRN post about Part 1.) The original podcast was aired in January 2024 but was recently updated on January 1^st, 2025.

Here is the description provided by Freakonomics:

“Last week’s episode was called “Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia?” We heard about the alleged fraudsters, we heard about the whistleblowers, and then a lawsuit against the whistleblowers…We heard about feelings of betrayal, from a co-author who was also a longtime friend of the accused…We also heard an admission, from inside the house, that the house is on fire…”

“That episode was a little gossipy, for us at least. Today, we’re back to wonky. But don’t worry, it is still really interesting. Today, we look into the academic-research industry — and believe me, it is an industry. And there is misconduct everywhere. From the universities…There’s misconduct at academic journals, some of which are essentially fake…And we’ll hear how the rest of us contribute. Because, after all, we love these research findings…We’ll also hear from the reformers, who are trying to push back…”

“Can academic fraud be stopped? Let’s find out.”

Click here for the link.

A transcript of the podcast is provided online.

CLOSING THOUGHT: Why so little mention about replication!