Cureus is the first journal to publicly highlight authors who have committed egregious ethical violations, as well as the institutions that enabled them, through our Wall of Shame. The release of the Wall of Shame garnered much attention among the academic publishing community, receiving both praise and criticism. 

While the wall's primary function is to help ensure that potentially dangerous medical misinformation is not published and possibly prevent hundreds or even thousands of future offenses, the page can also be used as an educational tool.

Our team recently received the below email from volunteer Cureus editor Dr. Robin Jacobs, PhD, MSW, MS, MPH, Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education and the Director of Graduate Medical Education at Nova Southeastern University, which we believe is a testament to the page's value and impact: 

I am the course director for my medical college's 8-month course, the Research Practicum, for which I teach/mentor approximately 400 second year medical students (in groups of 5-10) each year to conduct research projects (~50 projects per year). Their final product is a poster (many of which are published in Cureus) and manuscripts (some of which have been published as papers in Cureus and other journals); we are a Flagship program. 

Last week during class I showed them the newly installed "Cureus Wall of Shame" site and explained the meaning and reasoning behind it and the reality of article retractions. It was a great segway into publication ethics and scientific misconduct, such as plagiarism, falsifying evidence, IRB fraud, and authorship issues. I explained in detail the ramifications of such activities for both students and faculty. In addition, I serve as the IRB representative for my medical school.    

Let me say, this brief presentation really affected them! Many have told me they are rethinking (for them, that means "getting more serious about") the way they approach their research, including writing papers for publication. Some remarked that they are paying much closer attention and being more mindful of how they conduct their study and are aware of the importance of "quality over quantity." Some were outright nervous thinking about previous works submitted. In sum, it really shook them up.  

I just wanted to point out that the "Wall of Shame" served a secondary purpose in addition to "highlight authors who have committed egregious ethical violations as well as the institutions that enabled them." It turned out to be a great teaching tool for medical educators to demonstrate the seriousness - and realities - of academic misconduct. I will introduce the "Wall of Shame" to all my students going forward.