UK libel law and scientific debate

[the_physicist]

What's the best way to criticise bad scientists if you're in the UK without ending up being taken to court? Feeling very frustrated about certain fraudulent US researchers suing their UK based critics. Not sure I want to wade in on the debate though of pointing out how shoddy this certain person's work is without knowing what I can actually say,

Comments

[sammason]

I have one anecdote. It happened here in the UK. Somebody who shall be nameless has annoyed a lot of people by publishing paper after paper based on weak, over-interpreted data. Somebody else was so incensed that phe showed a poster at the relevant conference, calling the first person's work 'bad science.' This delights me because the first person caused worry in an industry relying on this science, and the second person is so senior that per voice gets listened to.

[the_physicist]

In the case I can't even call the data weak, it's simply forged. The figures are photoshopped (badly, I might add). UGH. And published in 'excellent' journals naturally.
Said guy is already taking some UK scientists to court on libel charges. :/ Like, I just don't know if there is some trick in how you phrase what you say or something like that so that you can be sure that you won't get stuck with a court case simply for pointing out that someone's a fraud.

[sammason]

Oh I see. Does your institution have a policy for this kind of thing? Perhaps you should report the fraud to the journal(s) whose reputation, of course, depends on integrity. You might also find Retraction Watch useful http://retractionwatch.com/

[the_physicist]

Thank you!!