Struggles to correct published errors

Efforts to correct errors in a published scientific article were met with defensive evasion on the part of editors and constituted a failure of the peer-review system. Senior editor Allen J. Bard and associate editor Richard L. Schowen of the Journal of the American Chemical Society dismissed efforts to point out egregious errors in a pair of articles co-authored by Ronald Breslow. The interests of science and of the public which funds it require that editors permit rebuttals by those who have the time and interest to read an article carefully.