[patrck]

One of the best classes I ever had was a stats class where the prof assigned a paper a week for us to review and mark up any and all faults. In the beginning, the papers were from journals like The Canadian Journal of Forest Research (which we came back with drenched in red ink), by the end we were punching holes in the Lancet.

Granted, the papers and progression were hand-picked by the prof. However, the final effect was that the students became fairly competent at reviewing papers in general.

[dredmorbius]

That is a fantastic pedagogical method.

I'd like to see some sort of channel or forum dedicated to similar critiques.

Sadly, much of the academic publishing world seems to be geared around "scratch my back" and not disrupting funding agencies, publishers, and/or senior (academic) department officials.

There may be criticism, yes, but it seems far more defensive than objective --- protecting turf.

Defence against the Dark Arts^W^WCertified Crackpots does remain a concern, of course.