Literature-based Resurrection of Neglected Medical Discoveries

Authors

  • Don R. Swanson University of Chicago

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/disco.v6i0.3515

Abstract

It is possible to find in the medical literature many articles that have been neglected or ignored, in some cases for many years, but which are worth bringing to light because they report unusual findings that may be of current scientific interest. Resurrecting previously published but neglected hypotheses that have merit might be overlooked because it would seem to lack the novelty of "discovery" -- but the potential value of so doing is hardly arguable. Finding neglected hypotheses may be not only of great practical value, but also affords the opportunity to study the structure of such hypotheses in the hope of illuminating the more general problem of hypothesis generation.

Author Biography

Don R. Swanson, University of Chicago

Professor Emeritus, Division of the Humanities, University of Chicago

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Published

2011-04-20

How to Cite

Swanson, D. R. (2011). Literature-based Resurrection of Neglected Medical Discoveries. DISCO: Journal of Biomedical Discovery and Collaboration, 6, 34–47. https://doi.org/10.5210/disco.v6i0.3515

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Section

Articles