阅读理解 The journal Science is adding an extra round of statistical checks to its peer-review process, editor-in-chief Marcia McNutt announced today. The policy follows similar efforts from other journals, after widespread concern that basic mistakes in data analysis are contributing to the irreproducibility of many published research findings.
"Readers must have confidence in the conclusions published in our journal," writes McNutt in an editorial. Working with the American Statistical Association, the journal has appointed seven experts to a Statistics Board of Reviewing Editors(SBoRE). Manuscript will be flagged up for additional scrutiny by the journal's internal editors, or by its existing Board of Reviewing Editors or by outside peer reviewers. The SBoRE panel will then find external statisticians to review these manuscripts.
Asked whether any particular papers had impelled the change, McNutt said: "The creation of the 'statistics board' was motivated by concerns broadly with the application of statistics and data analysis in scientific research and is part of Science's overall drive to increase reproducibility in the research we publish. "
Giovanni Parmigiani, a biostatistician at the Harvard School of Public Health, a member of the SBoRE group. He says he expects the board to "play primarily an advisory role. " He agreed to join because he "found the foresight behind the establishment of the SBoRE to be novel, unique and likely to have a lasting impact. This impact will not only be through the publications in Science itself, but hopefully through a larger group of publishing places that may want to model their approach after Science. "
John Ioannidis, a physician who studies research methodology, says that the policy is "a most welcome step forward" and "long overdue. " "Most journals are weak in statistical review, and this damages the quality of what they publish. I think that, for the majority of scientific papers nowadays, statistical review is more essential than expert review," he says. But he noted that biomedical journals such as Annals of Internal Medicine , the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet pay strong attention to statistical review.
Professional scientists are expected to know how to analyze data, but statistical errors are alarmingly common in published research, according to David Vaux, a cell biologist. Researchers should improve their standards, he wrote in 2012, but journals should also take a tougher line, "engaging reviewers who are statistically literate and editors who can verify the process. " Vaux says that Science's idea to pass some papers to statisticians "has some merit, but a weakness is that it relies on the board of reviewing editors to identify 'the papers that need scrutiny' in the first place. "
单选题 36.It can be learned from Paragraph 1 that______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】此题细节信息定位到第一段第句话:“The journal Science is adding an extra round of statistical checks to its peer review process...”西方人的思维和写作习惯是将重要的放在前面,所以,“journals are strengthening their statistical checks”的表述符合题意,因此选择B。
单选题 37.The phrase "flagged up"(Para. 2)is the closest in meaning to______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】根据第二段第三句话上下文进行推断。第三句话说到“Manuscript will be flagged up for additional scrutiny by the journal’s internal editors,or by its existing Board of Reviewing Editors or by outside peer reviewers.”,即表达了手稿要被如何处理的意思。各选项中,“be marked for”意为“被标记为,要……样”,放在句中,符合上下文意思;而“found”意为“被找到”,“revised”意为“被修正”,“stored”意为“被储存”,放在此处都不合适,因此选择B。
单选题 38.Giovanni Parmigiani believes that the establishment of the SBoRE may______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】此题细节信息定位到第四段:He says he expects the board to“play primarily an advisory role.”...“...This impact will not only be through the publications in Science itself,but hopefully through a larger group of publishing places that may want to model their approach after Science.”即出版单位想要树立自己的模范形象,所以,“set an example for other journals”为其他杂志树立模范的表述切合文意,因此选择D。
单选题 39.David Vaux holds that what Science is doing now______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】此题细节信息定位到最后一段最后句话:“…but a weakness is that it relies on the board of reviewing editors to identify‘the papers that need scrutiny’in the first place.”即他认为《科学》杂志的做法有好处也有缺点,也就是说有改进的空间,因此选择C。
单选题 40.Which of the following is the best title of the text?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】这里要在通读全文并掌握主题大意后进行选择。由于文中说到了《科学》杂志增加了统计数据的审查环节,所以直接判断A项“Science Joins Push to Screen Statistics in Papers”的表述能够概括全文的主旨,B、C、D的说法都不全是文章主要表达的,因此选择A。