Tortured phrases in sport-related literature

There is interest in appreciating if ‘tortured phrases’ (i.e., odd linguistic phrases in scientific literature that purportedly show technical explanations, but which actually are non-sensical or difficult to interpret) exist in the sport literature. To gain an appreciation of this phenomenon, the...

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Main Author: Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bern Open Publishing 2024-11-01
Series:Current Issues in Sport Science
Online Access:https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/10778
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author Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva
author_facet Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva
author_sort Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva
collection DOAJ
description There is interest in appreciating if ‘tortured phrases’ (i.e., odd linguistic phrases in scientific literature that purportedly show technical explanations, but which actually are non-sensical or difficult to interpret) exist in the sport literature. To gain an appreciation of this phenomenon, the Tortured Phrases Detector of the Problematic Paper Screener (PPS) was consulted on 9 September 2023), revealing 160 results. After manual screening and filtering, 54 papers related to any aspect of sport (as assessed by papers’ titles) were examined, in consultation with their entries at PubPeer (if available) to appreciate the level and extent to which tortured phrases have infiltrated the sport literature. Of the 54 papers examined, 29 were retracted (or withdrawn) to date (6 October 2023), but none indicated tortured phrases as an explicit reason for retraction in their retraction notices. Even though the absolute volume of papers with tortured phrases is tiny relative to the wider body of sport-related literature, that argument is countered by noting that these 54 papers had already collectively been cited 449 times, suggesting that imperfect or fraudulent science tainted by tortured phrases has already begun to permeate the wider sport science literature.
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spelling doaj-art-1ffc48fc5a0e4f5f87f0c34b6d5ebab92024-11-21T03:15:12ZengBern Open PublishingCurrent Issues in Sport Science2414-66412024-11-019110.36950/2024.9ciss010Tortured phrases in sport-related literatureJaime A. Teixeira da Silva0Independent There is interest in appreciating if ‘tortured phrases’ (i.e., odd linguistic phrases in scientific literature that purportedly show technical explanations, but which actually are non-sensical or difficult to interpret) exist in the sport literature. To gain an appreciation of this phenomenon, the Tortured Phrases Detector of the Problematic Paper Screener (PPS) was consulted on 9 September 2023), revealing 160 results. After manual screening and filtering, 54 papers related to any aspect of sport (as assessed by papers’ titles) were examined, in consultation with their entries at PubPeer (if available) to appreciate the level and extent to which tortured phrases have infiltrated the sport literature. Of the 54 papers examined, 29 were retracted (or withdrawn) to date (6 October 2023), but none indicated tortured phrases as an explicit reason for retraction in their retraction notices. Even though the absolute volume of papers with tortured phrases is tiny relative to the wider body of sport-related literature, that argument is countered by noting that these 54 papers had already collectively been cited 449 times, suggesting that imperfect or fraudulent science tainted by tortured phrases has already begun to permeate the wider sport science literature. https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/10778
spellingShingle Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva
Tortured phrases in sport-related literature
Current Issues in Sport Science
title Tortured phrases in sport-related literature
title_full Tortured phrases in sport-related literature
title_fullStr Tortured phrases in sport-related literature
title_full_unstemmed Tortured phrases in sport-related literature
title_short Tortured phrases in sport-related literature
title_sort tortured phrases in sport related literature
url https://ciss-journal.org/article/view/10778
work_keys_str_mv AT jaimeateixeiradasilva torturedphrasesinsportrelatedliterature