Zoltan P. Majdik

North Dakota State University | NDSU · Department of Communication

This study evaluates associations between aggregate conflicts of interest (COI) and drug safety. We used a machine-learning system to extract and classify COI from PubMed-indexed disclosure statements. Individual conflicts were classified as Type 1 (personal fees, travel, board memberships, and non-financial support), Type 2 (grants and research su...

In this paper, we investigate two approaches to building artificial neural network models to compare their effectiveness for accurately classifying rhetorical structures across multiple (non-binary) classes in small textual datasets. We find that the most accurate type of model can be designed by using a custom rhetorical feature list coupled with...

Objective To create a data visualization dashboard to advance research related to clinical trials sponsorship and monopolistic practices in the pharmaceuticals industry. Materials and Methods This R Shiny application aggregates data from ClinicialTrials.gov resulting from user’s queries by terms. Returned data are visualized through an interactive...

Recently, concerns have been raised over the potential impacts of commercial relationships on editorial practices in biomedical publishing. Specifically, it has been suggested that certain commercial relationships may make editors more open to publishing articles with author conflicts of interest (aCOI). Using a data set of 128,781 articles publish...

Recent outbreaks of measles have centered in specific communities, pointing to the influence of social ties on vaccination practices. This study adds to the conversation on public understanding of vaccine-related science, documenting how the individualist epistemologies highlighted in prior research are externalized and validated in communication w...

Recently, concerns have been raised over the potential impacts of commercial biases on editorial practices in biomedical publishing. Specifically, it has been suggested that commercial biases may make editors more open to publishing articles with author conflicts of interest (aCOI). Using a data set of 128,781 articles published in 159 journals, we...

The goal of this paper is to consider rhetorical effects as the propagation of rhetorical expressions across large sets of texts, measured by the extent to which rhetorical expressions, structures, or practices become replicated in texts and sites of rhetorical in(ter)vention. The paper draws on lines of scholarship in the digital humanities and co...

The goal of this paper is to consider rhetorical effects as the propagation of rhetorical expressions across large sets of texts, measured by the extent to which rhetorical expressions, structures, or practices become replicated in texts and sites of rhetorical in(ter)vention. The paper draws on lines of scholarship in the digital humanities and co...

This essay analyzes Myriad Genetics’ marketing of the BRACAnalysis genetic test to argue that the campaign creates a unique and problematic understanding of choice and decision making in the domain of applied genetic biotechnologies. The essay identifies how the campaign creates a subject position that invites audiences into a double bind of action...

This article addresses the problem of expertise in a democratic political system: the tension between the authority of expertise and the democratic values that guide political life. We argue that for certain problems, expertise needs to be understood as a dialogical process, and we conceptualize an understanding of expertise through and as argument...

This essay draws on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s work to argue for a practice-oriented concept of expertise. We propose that conceptualizing types of expertise as having a family resemblance, relative to the problems such expertise addresses, escapes certain limitations of defining expertise as primarily epistemic. Recognizing the pragmatic purchase on ac...

John Lynch’s reply to my article in a recent issue of Rhetoric & Public Affairs introduces matters relevant to a continuing scholarly conversation on the topic of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetics. Although I disagree with some of his characterizations of my argument, I hope my rejoinder can be read not only as a response to his criticisms, but als...

This paper explores the rhetorical basis of a major paradigm change in meteorology, from a focus on inductive observation to deductive, mathematical reasoning. Analysis of Cleveland Abbe's “The Physical Basis of Long-Range Weather Forecasts” demonstrates how in his advocacy for a new paradigm, Abbe navigates the tension between piety to tradition a...

This article analyzes how providers of direct-to-consumer genetic tests communicate about abstract, technical genetic science with nonexpert audiences. It argues that direct-to-consumer genetics reveals a stasis in public discourse over where legitimate agency for interpreting genetic test results, judging their meaning, and making decisions in res...

Rhetoric & Public Affairs 8.3 (2005) 532-534 In the weeks after 9/11, President George W. Bush issued numerous unilateral executive orders: he instituted a Secretary of Homeland Security and a Homeland Security Council, lifted Gerald Ford's directive against political assassinations by the CIA, froze financial assets linked to suspected terrorist n...