‘A lot of it is sloppiness’: the biologist who finds flaws in scientific papers

Sholto David: ‘… the expectation is that the scientists who do this research have high standards and are very careful in what they do.’ Photograph: Francesca Jones/The Guardian

When Sholto David quit his job last autumn he could have looked for another post, taken time out to travel, or grabbed his tent and hopped on his bike. But David, a biologist living in Pontypridd, Wales, threw his efforts into a somewhat obscure hobby: finding flaws in scientific papers and doing his best to have them rectified.

The work, David says, is largely thankless. Academics often got defensive about their studies or refused to respond to his criticisms. Journal editors took a similar tack, ignoring his letters, rejecting them, or investigating on timescales bordering on the glacial.