The side-effect of the rat race to publish  Hitting the Pub Med search tab with the keyword Covid-19 lists a whopping 1,35,105 results for the articles published between 2019-2021. Yes, researchers have been working very hard, however, many if not all are seeing this just as an opportunity to publish articles on a topic receiving intense interest from around the globe. The shooting number of research articles is also a consequence of researchers staying at home due to lock down and focusing just on writing rather than conducting research in the labs. Moreover, journals have developed a soft corner for those researchers who are publishing covid-related articles. According to a Nature article Covid related publications were peer-reviewed faster at medical journals while other research articles took longer than usual to get published. Compared with other topics, articles on COVID-19 have been shown to generate more citations. So, just to earn those citation numbers people are minting research articles as if publishing a newspaper column.  As of dated 18/5/2021, 109 papers published on Covid-19 have been retracted while 6 others have earned expressions of concerns. It is still early to conclude whether covid related publications are more prone to retractions than compared to other articles, as many other anomalous articles might still haven’t caught the eye of researchers. Leaving aside the lower impact journals, well established reputed journals including Lancet and New England journal of medicine are too amongst those which have received retractions.  Preprints (articles posted online before peer review) of the research articles available on the internet have also increased rapidly during the pandemic. Researchers might know what a preprint is but a common person surfing over the internet is rarely interested in the source and quality of the publication. It is obvious that a preprint that had not undergone proper scrutiny or peer-reviewing may appear trustworthy to someone not from a scientific background.  By the time the preprint undergoes reviewing and is proclaimed as unauthenticated research, the information in it is disseminated to millions of others on social media.  The question that arises is whether permitting early access to data of unclear quality to the few that are knowledgeable enough to save lives justifies exposure of such data to the many that are much less aware of the consequences? Publishing research articles were supposed to involve integrity and honour, but I suppose in the fast-paced world, researchers have become greedy to win the race to grab the maximum number of articles into their basket. There must be countermeasures to tighten the strap on such anomalies. Other articles to read- 1. Electric nose that detect H2S gas 2. State of a phd in India Data source of retracted papers

Artificial electric nose made which can detect emissions of hydrogen sulfide gas from sewers Scientists from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) India,in collaboration with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have developed an electronic nose with biodegradable polymer and monomer that can mimic olfactory receptor neuron, which enables us to detect the smell of various substances. During the microbial degradation of organic matter under anaerobic conditions in the sewers, hot-springs and during the production of crude-petroleum products, as well as while refining natural gases hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is produced.  H2S is a poisonous, corrosive, and flammable gas which at concentrations (less than 10 ppm) cause eye irritation and fatigue, and exposure to levels higher than 100 ppm results in severe neurological damage and cardiovascular conditions.  This artificial nose can protect humans from the harmful impact of this gas while working under such conditions. The total size of the device is 5 mm × 5 mm, exactly fitting on the tip of the forefinger.  The device can fit the tip of the forefinger. Image credit- https://rsc.li/2PYRR2W The material of the device The fabricated sensor consists of a heterostructure consisting of two layers – the top layer a monomer and is realized with a novel chemical tris (keto-hydrazone), which is both porous and contains H2S specific functional groups, and the bottom layer is the active channel layer which plays a key role in altering the current and mobility of charge carriers.   The two layers of the device. After exposure to the gas, the chemical reaction confirms the presence of gas. Image credit- https://rsc.li/2PYRR2W  Thus the synergistic combination helps to pre-concentrate the H2S molecules, initiate an acid-base chemical reaction, and thereby brings a change in the majority carriers (holes) of the channel region in the device. The capacitance sensor (a sensor that detects nearby objects by their effect on the electrical field created by the sensor) developed by the scientists showed an excellent sensitivity in detecting H2S gas with an experimental limit of detection of around 25 parts per billion. It also has high ambient stability of around 8 months without compromising sensing performance. Thus, this device can provide early detection of hydrogen sulfide gas present in the particular working area and protect workers from the harmful impact of the gas. Moreover, the devices sensing mechanism can be further modulated for the detection of other gases also. Source- Research paper, Vigyaan samachar