Makacs problémák és a tudomány tekintélyének romlása • Wicked Problems and the Decline of Respect for Science

The uncontrolled information dumping of social media menaces the prestige of science. Scientific literature may contribute to this; even top-level scientific journals may print sensationalist, confusing articles. There are multiple reasons causing the anomaly. The study analyses papers dealing with complex natural processes under chaotic regulation (climate change or ecosystem functions) and causing ‘wicked problems’. Wicked problems are the result of counteracting and temporally changing independent factors and do not offer simple explanations and solutions. Specialist authors may easily overlook critical effects, which are not in direct causal relation with the investigated issue. The current scientometric evaluation of research work fosters the hasty publication of atten-tion-grabbing papers and the hunting of citation impacts. It has also led to the transformation