[knolan]

I’ve seen this with a PhD student publishing several rapid fire papers in MDPI journals. They are repeating well understood physics work done 50 years ago using off the shelf commercial simulation software. They don’t cite any papers older than a decade and claim without irony that the work is “significant” while none of their papers are cited. They will go to events where no one is an expert in the field and win prizes for showing lots of pretty pictures but nothing that isn’t already well understood.

When I, an expert in the field, tell them they need to produce something novel at their research panels I’m told I’m wrong. When I list all the work they are ripping off I’m told it’s somehow different without explanation. When I question the obvious sloppiness in their work (the simulation data showing major artefacts) they blow up at me screaming and shouting.

I’ve never experienced arrogance like this before. It’s shocking. Their supervisors tell me that they are close to firing them but then also celebrate all the publications they are getting.

The mind boggles.

[noisy_boy]

> When I, an expert in the field, tell them they need to produce something novel at their research panels I’m told I’m wrong. When I list all the work they are ripping off I’m told it’s somehow different without explanation. When I question the obvious sloppiness in their work (the simulation data showing major artefacts) they blow up at me screaming and shouting.

At risk of relying totally on assumptions, that wouldn't be a surprising reaction for someone facing first serious criticism after an entire life of probably being unconditionally lauded for their smarts (or the projection of it). When parents push children towards something relentlessly without providing any constructive feedback on account of living their dreams through their children and/or the fear of discouraging the child, any criticism can feel like someone is trying to destroy your life goals.

> Their supervisors tell me that they are close to firing them but then also celebrate all the publications they are getting.

Probably trying to protect themselves from being in the crosshairs of one of many things that can blow your career apart.

[knolan]

This individual is pretty unique in this regard. I’ve never seen anything like it. Most students will acknowledge that I know the literature and will accept guidance. This person seems to think they know everything but their work is the equivalent of a tutorial case in the commercial software.

[throwoutway]

I've experienced this in the corporate world too, when someone is seeking a promotion. Entitlement is becoming a bane

[knolan]

Yes indeed. I’ve seen similar there too.

[whatever1]

Ok to be fair the original is probably a badly scanned tech report from GE from the 70’s with minimal implementation details. Whoever has tried to implement an obscure physics paper from that age knows how tough it can be.

I think there is value revisiting some of this work with our modern toolsets and publishing the code in some public repository.

But of course with a clear citation chain, and no pompous lies that a new discovery was made.

[knolan]

It’s a really basic engineering problem that was studied extensively in many studies and we teach it at undergraduate.

When I made the point that there is no scientific novelty here they insisted that their PhD was a ‘generic’ one and that means they can continue to run basic simulations according the to the recipe.

[Over2Chars]

This isn't new, and academia has been rewarding behavior that wouldn't survive elsewhere for a long time.

Maybe it's time we unshackled ourselves from these 'prestigious institutions'?

[knolan]

Your anti intellectual bias is showing. There are problems in all domains. I’ve seen plenty of arrogant fools in industry too.

They’re using an industry tool to do well trodden industry problems that were solved by academics decades ago.

I’m not tolerating his behaviour and I’ve made my views clear to my colleagues. He’s going to burn every bridge possible with this behaviour.