{{comic
| number = 1847
| date = June 7, 2017
| title = Dubious Study
| image = dubious_study.png
| titletext = Sounds fine. I looked up the Academy, and it says on their MySpace page that their journal is peer-viewed and downloaded biannually.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic alludes to the growing industry in {{w|Predatory open access publishing|disreputable academic journals}}, many of whom accept articles of dubious merit for publication without rigorous peer review on payment of a fee. In an attempt to sound legitimate (and thus attract submissions), many such publishers publish journals whose names sound mistakably close to (if not identical to) established titles. Here, the ''National Academy of Proceedings'' is a play on the highly regarded academic title {{w|Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|
''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA}}

The title text implies that this (at present) fictional journal has a dubious online presence in the faded internet site {{w|Myspace|MySpace}}, where the publishers make claims that are true but misleading: "peer-viewed" sounds similar to "{{w|peer review|peer-reviewed}}", the community-led process of establishing a paper's scientific integrity prior to publication, but in fact means only that scientists have viewed the content (as [[Cueball]] is now). Likewise, some journals might be "published biannually", whereas "downloaded biannually" implies that the journal is ''read'' every other year. Single articles in high-profile journals such as ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' would expect to receive [http://palgrave.nature.com/nchem/journal/v7/n5/nchem.2243/metrics hundreds to thousands] of views in their first year of publication. The fictional journal publisher no doubt hopes that an inexperienced scientist may mistake these claims for meaningful statements of authority, and thus submit a paper (and eventually pay a fee for its publication).

''The National Academy of Proceedings'' in fact sets itself apart from certain predatory journals by ensuring that the claims on its website are in fact factually accurate (if phrased to mislead article authors, particularly those with English as an additional language); some journals are [http://www.nature.com/news/predatory-journals-recruit-fake-editor-1.21662 openly dishonest] on their websites.

==Transcript==
[Megan is standing behind Cueball who is at a computer desk.]

:Megan: Are you sure this study is legit?
:Cueball: Sure, it says it was accepted for publication.
:Megan: Where?
:Cueball: Hmm... ''The National Academy of Proceedings''.
:Caption: If something is if formatted like a serious scientific paper, it can take me a while to realise it isn't one.

{{comic discussion}}

1774: Adjective Foods

2016-12-19T17:52:09Z

162.158.62.105:

{{comic
| number = 1774
| date = December 19, 2016
| title = Adjective Foods
| image = adjective_foods.png
| titletext = Contains 100% of your recommended daily allowance!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First draft}}
This comic shows one of [[Randall]]’s goals in life – creating foods with ‘adjective-only’ names, where common phrases such as “Glazed Donuts” or “Lite Beer” would be replaced with “Glazed” or “Lite”. This is a jab at food market buzzwords, which usually rely on adjectives and words that bring up certain feelings based on how the food is ‘supposed to be’. An example of this is something like ‘lean and tender beef’. It is also semi-difficult to determine the actual contents just by adjectives.

The title text furthers this by taking the phrase ‘recommended daily allowance of XXX’, and removing the ‘of XXX’ part, making it vague enough to be meaningless.

===Foods that are probably in each container===
{{incomplete|Some foods are unknown, and they all could use details such as what adjectives are typically associated with that food and what they mean.}}
{|
! style="text-align:left;"|Container
! style="text-align:left;"|Type of food
|-
|“… bespoke cage-free” bag
|eggs
|-
|“… glazed flambé” box
|some type of meat
|-
|“… Kosher Grade A” box
|butter
|-
|“… extra sharp” box
|cheese
|-
|“… Lite original flavor” can
|beer
|}

==Transcript==
{{notice|Format, if just a bit.}}
:[An arrangement of labeled foodstuffs, from left to right and top to bottom:]
:Premium Stone-ground ''Bespoke'', Cage-free
:''Gourmet'' Fire-roasted Glazed ''flambé''
:Organic All-natural Locally-sourced Artisenal, Kosher, Grade A
:''Craft Barrel-aged Smoked'' Authentic Homemade Sun-dried Whole Extra Sharp
:Low-calorie ''Lite'' Original Flavor
:[Caption:] I'm trying to trick supermarkets into carrying my new line of adjective-only foods.

==Trivia==

* The word “artisenal” is misspelled; it should be “artisanal”.

{{comic discussion}}