Update: Physics and feminism

Yesterday, I told the story of how a rant against working women got published in the Canadian Journal of Physics. It has, I’m pleased to say, been a very popular post. The most common reaction to it was, “Wow. Just... wow.”

Sarah Kavassalis read my article, and knew something that I did not. Canadian Science Publishing, which publishes the Canadian Journal of Physics and other National Research Council Journals, has a Twitter account.

She tweeted:

Whoa, @cdnsciencepub, you don’t put a note on retracted papers online?

Many of those kinds of accounts are not monitored by a human being. I honestly did not expect a response. But this one is. Someone took note, and then took action.

A note w/ links from the “paper” to related comments was missing but is now fixed. Thx for heads up!

When you go to the online version of the article now, you see this (red box added by me):

Hooray!

It may still not say “retraction,” but it’s a big improvement. Someone could have done nothing, but instead did something good. Thank you, Sarah Kavassalis. And bravo, unknown person manning the @cdnsciencepub Twitter account.

Occasionally... you win one.

Update, 8 October 2020: After two apologies that the editors considered retractions without actually using the word, Retraction Watch reports that this paper is finally being officially retracted.