English: Front facade of the Allen Memorial Medical Library at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Adelbert Hall - Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Architect Joseph Ireland; built 1882. I took this photograph. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Gut paper retracted after university review says “figures cannot be validated by original data”
A biologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio
has retracted a paper from Inflammatory Bowel Diseases after a university
review found the figures within it could not be “validated by original
data.” The 2010 paper, “Elevated IL-13Rα2 in intestinal epithelial cells
from ulcerative colitis or colorectal cancer initiates MAPK pathway,”
concerns the elevated expression […]
The post Gut paper retracted after university review says “figures cannot
be validated by original data” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Paper cited by New York Times for key stat gets retracted
A paper that had served as the key aspect of an April New York Times
article about a recent surge of violence against immigrants in South Africa
has since been retracted for plagiarism. The research, which appeared
in the Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, had served as the source
of the newspaper’s statement that the country is “home to […]
The post Paper cited by New York Times for key stat gets retracted appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Hundreds sign letter criticizing Science for reinforcing “damaging stereotypes”
After an advice columnist for Science Careers suggested a postdoc “put up
with” an adviser’s wandering gaze in June, and an author of a piece in
Science partly credited his success to his wife (a Ph.D. scientist) who
assumed “the bulk of the domestic responsibilities” in July, some readers
have gotten fed up. These examples are two of four […]
The post Hundreds sign letter criticizing Science for reinforcing “damaging
stereotypes” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Data fabrication and manipulation have occurred”: Taste bud paper soured by fraud
A 2013 paper on the neurological impact of flavors has been retracted from
The Journal of Neuroscience. The retraction notice offers few details
(which is typical for the journal), but a statement sent to us by the last
author noted that an investigation at the University of Maryland
“determined that data fabrication and manipulation have […]
The post “Data fabrication and manipulation have occurred”: Taste bud paper
soured by fraud appeared first on Retraction Watch.
JBC retraction on neuron development marks second for two biologists
Two biologists have retracted a second paper on the development of neurons,
but that’s about all we know. The 2007 paper from the Journal of Biological
Chemistry, “The Interaction of mPar3 with the Ubiquitin Ligase Smurf2 Is
Required for the Establishment of Neuronal Polarity,” concerns the role of
a protein, mPar3, in neuron development. It has been cited […]
The post JBC retraction on neuron development marks second for two
biologists appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Cervical cancer paper is scrapped for duplication in the same journal, year
Over a decade ago, a case report on a woman with cervical cancer and
lymphoma was “published twice” by the International Journal of
Gynecological Cancer within the span of a few months. The retraction note
came out just now. One copy of the paper appeared in the July 2003 issue of
the journal. The second, now-retracted, copy — “Coincidental detection […]
The post Cervical cancer paper is scrapped for duplication in the same
journal, year appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Half of anesthesiology fraudster’s papers continue to be cited years after retractions
In yet more evidence that retracted studies continue to accrue citations, a
new paper has shown that nearly half of anesthesiologist Scott Reuben’s
papers have been cited five years after being retracted, and only
one-fourth of citations correctly note the retraction. According to the new
paper, in Science and Engineering Ethics: Our data show that […]
The post Half of anesthesiology fraudster’s papers continue to be cited
years after retractions appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Major overlap” forces retraction of osteoporosis paper
The Journal of Advanced Nursing has retracted a 2006 paper by a group of
authors in Hong Kong who lifted much of the text from a previous article of
theirs in a competing publication. The article, “Osteoporosis prevention
education programme for women,” came from Moon Fai Chan and C.Y. Ko in the
School of Nursing […]
The post “Major overlap” forces retraction of osteoporosis paper appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
ASU professor is demoted, will correct book following “unattributed and poorly paraphrased material”
Matthew Whitaker at Arizona State University is revising a textbook about
modern African-American history after it was found to contain “unattributed
and poorly paraphrased material,” according to a statement from the author.
The revised version of the book Peace Be Still: Modern Black America from
World War II to Barack Obama will include “a statement of […]
The post ASU professor is demoted, will correct book following
“unattributed and poorly paraphrased material” appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Retraction of monkey paper linked to problems at shuttered research institute
Evidence of poorly treated lab animals has led researchers to retract a
2014 article in Veterinary Pathology that explored the neurological effects
of dehydration in squirrel monkeys. The study was pulled after Frederick
Wang, the former director of the New England Primate Research Center,
unveiled reports of a dozen squirrel monkeys that were found dehydrated and
[…]
The post Retraction of monkey paper linked to problems at shuttered
research institute appeared first on Retraction Watch.
JCI issues mega-correction for multiple myeloma paper
The Journal of Clinical Investigation has issued a lengthy correction to a
paper about the role of the immune system in the progression and treatment
response of multiple myeloma. The correction changes details from the name
of an author to figure legends, and adds entire supplemental figures.
Shortly after the paper’s publication on April 20th, commenters […]
The post JCI issues mega-correction for multiple myeloma paper appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: California universities battle in court for research dollars; fake conferences; fake impact factors
This week at Retraction Watch featured a look at the nuances of replication
efforts, aka “the replication paradox,” as well as yet another story of
fake peer reviews, this time at Hindawi. Here’s what was happening
elsewhere: The University of California, San Diego is suing the University
of Southern California and one of its former […]
The post Weekend reads: California universities battle in court for
research dollars; fake conferences; fake impact factors appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
High-profile biologist is suspended after two investigations found he “breached his duty of care”, committed “misconduct”
High-profile plant biologist Olivier Voinnet has been suspended for two
years from the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
following the results of two investigations that revealed a number of
issues in his publication record. An investigation at ETH Zurich found that
the scientist “breached his duty of care in the handling of figures as well
as in […]
The post High-profile biologist is suspended after two investigations found
he “breached his duty of care”, committed “misconduct” appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Ethics dispute forces retraction of paper on Hep C in Japanese leper colony
Here’s a case of retraction being a hammer when a scalpel might have been
better. The authors of a 2011 paper in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology
looking at transmission of hepatitis C in a former leper colony in Japan
have retracted the article because an ethics panel in that country objected
to the scientists’ use of […]
The post Ethics dispute forces retraction of paper on Hep C in Japanese
leper colony appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Two crystallography papers break apart for “trivial errors,” says author
Biophysicists in India have retracted two crystallography papers
describing protein binding sites following “concerns,” according to one
retraction note. The last author on both papers, however, told us he
believed the retractions were the result of “trivial errors.” Although one
journal praised him in its retraction note for his “positive engagement,”
he said the process left him feeling […]
The post Two crystallography papers break apart for “trivial errors,” says
author appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Psych journal axes study of child molesters
A journal has issued a “notice of redundant publication” for a paper that
used virtual reality to understand arousal patterns in child molesters —
the result of “an unfortunate sequence of personal events relating to the
first author.” The study, “Using immersive virtual reality and ecological
psychology to probe into child molesters’ phenomenology,” was originally […]
The post Psych journal axes study of child molesters appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
New York Times says it “would not have assigned” elephant article to writer had they known of conflict
Although we nearly always stick to covering the scientific literature, we
sometimes write about cases in other media that shed light on how different
outlets correct the record. This is one of those times. The New York Times
issued an editor’s note and correction last week to a June 26 article about
Happy the elephant, […]
The post New York Times says it “would not have assigned” elephant article
to writer had they known of conflict appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Journal quarantines MERS paper, posts EoC for “rights to use the data”
Eurosurveillance is investigating potential problems with study on
the deadly breakout of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus
(MERS-CoV) in South Korea. The notice was issued after the journal
discovered that study data might have been used without permission.
“Epidemiological investigation of MERS-CoV spread in a single hospital in
South Korea, May to June 2015,” was published […]
The post Journal quarantines MERS paper, posts EoC for “rights to use the
data” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
30+ papers flagged because editors may have “subverted the peer review process” with fake accounts
In what has become a familiar story, another publisher has found more than
30 papers that appear to have been accepted and published based on fake
peer reviews. Hindawi, publisher of more than 400 journals, is having 32
papers re-reviewed after an investigation …identified three Editors who
appear to have subverted the peer review process […]
The post 30+ papers flagged because editors may have “subverted the peer
review process” with fake accounts appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Recursive recursiveness: Retracted Lewandowsky et al conspiracy ideation study republished
A paper on “the role of conspiracist ideation in climate denial” whose
puzzling publication (and retraction) history formed the basis of a series
of Retraction Watch posts in 2013 and 2014 is back, as part of a new
article in a different journal. Retraction Watch readers may recall a paper
published in 2013 in Frontiers […]
The post Recursive recursiveness: Retracted Lewandowsky et al conspiracy
ideation study republished appeared first on Retraction Watch.
JAMA issues mega-correction for data breach letter due to “wording and data errors”
A JAMA letter published in April on data breaches accidentally included
some data that shouldn’t have been published, either — specifically,
“wording and data errors” that affected five sentences and more than 10
entries in a table. One result — a reported increase in breaches over time
— also went from statistically significant to “borderline” significant,
according […]
The post JAMA issues mega-correction for data breach letter due to “wording
and data errors” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
To catch a cheat: Paper improves on stats method that nailed prolific retractor Fujii
The author of a 2012 paper in Anaesthesia which offered the statistical
equivalent of coffin nails to the case against record-breaking
fraudster Yoshitaka Fujii (currently at the top of our leaderboard) has
written a new article in which he claims to have improved upon his
approach. As we’ve written previously, John Carlisle, an anesthesiologist
in the United […]
The post To catch a cheat: Paper improves on stats method that nailed
prolific retractor Fujii appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“The Replication Paradox:” Sans other fixes, replication may cause more harm than good, says new paper
In a paper that might be filed under “careful what you wish for,” a group
of psychology researchers is warning that the push to replicate more
research — the focus of a lot of attention recently — won’t do enough to
improve the scientific literature. And in fact, it could actually worsen
some problems — […]
The post “The Replication Paradox:” Sans other fixes, replication may cause
more harm than good, says new paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Cancer Research retraction is fifth for Robert Weinberg; fourth for his former student
Another domino has fallen in a chain of retractions for Robert Weinberg,
the man who discovered the first tumor-causing gene in humans, along with
the first tumor suppressor gene: Cancer Research just retracted a paper of
his on some of the molecular steps to metastasis. The paper, “Concurrent
Suppression of Integrin α5, Radixin, and RhoA Phenocopies […]
The post Cancer Research retraction is fifth for Robert Weinberg; fourth
for his former student appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Another author withdrawal from JBC earns another opaque notice
The authors of a 2014 study on the biochemical changes that can encourage
the progression of cancer have withdrawn the paper from the Journal of
Biological Chemistry. The post from the JBC – which we’ve noted are rarely
helpful – doesn’t provide any details or reason for the withdrawal. As
usual, this is all we […]
The post Another author withdrawal from JBC earns another opaque notice
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Is failing to share data misconduct?; worst journal ever; Elsevier boycott
The big news this week at Retraction Watch was the release of more than two
dozen retractions for accounting researcher James Hunton, and the
sentencing of Dong-Pyou Han for scientific fraud (see more below). Here’s
what was happening elsewhere: First, the Han case: A judge sentenced the
HIV vaccine researcher to 57 months in prison […]
The post Weekend reads: Is failing to share data misconduct?; worst journal
ever; Elsevier boycott appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Misidentified genetic sequence causes retraction of pathogen paper one month after publication
The author of an article mapping the genome of an infectious bacterium is
pulling the paper because — well, it wasn’t the bacterium she thought it
was. Study author Celia Abolnik is retracting her paper in Genome
Announcements because it didn’t actually map out the DNA of Mycoplasma
meleagridis, a bacterium that typically infects turkeys but has recently
been found in chickens. […]
The post Misidentified genetic sequence causes retraction of pathogen paper
one month after publication appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Editors retract algae study, citing “issues with the data”
The International Journal of Phytoremediation has issued a retraction for
a 2013 article suggesting algae could shield against gamma radiation better
than lead. Sadly, such an innovation was not to be — the editors have
pulled the paper, saying: We are now cognizant that there are issues with
the data and determinations made within the manuscript […]
The post Editors retract algae study, citing “issues with the data”
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Corrections (and one EoC) propagate for distinguished plant biologist, Olivier Voinnet
There may be some deeply rooted issues in the work of high-profile plant
biologist Olivier Voinnet, biology department research director at ETH in
Zurich. Corrections have continued to pile up months after his work was hit
with a barrage of criticism on PubPeer. We’ve tracked a total of seven
corrections over the past five months (not including […]
The post Corrections (and one EoC) propagate for distinguished plant
biologist, Olivier Voinnet appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Lancet journal removes Buddha cover art following protest
The Lancet Infectious Diseases has removed a cover illustration of the
Buddha contemplating a mosquito from its June, 2015 issue — a complement to
a paper about malaria treatment in Cambodia — after receiving emails from
readers who protested the depiction of the statue in a non-religious
context. After publishing the cover, the journal received […]
The post Lancet journal removes Buddha cover art following protest appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
AIDS vaccine fraudster sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison and to pay back $7 million
A researcher who confessed to spiking rabbit blood samples to make the
results of an HIV vaccine experiment look better has been sentenced to 57
months of prison time, according to The Des Moines Register. Dong-Pyou Han
has also been ordered to repay more than $7 million to the U.S. National
Institutes of Health, and […]
The post AIDS vaccine fraudster sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison and
to pay back $7 million appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Duke University lung researchers cough up fourth retraction, due to “inconsistent” data
The Journal of Applied Physiology has retracted a 2012 respiratory study
after the authors found “inconsistent” data that “could not be traced to
their source.” It’s the fourth retraction for two of the researchers,
including Erin Potts-Kant, who was arrested in 2013 for embezzling more
than $14,000 from Duke University. The study, “Effects of corticosteroid […]
The post Duke University lung researchers cough up fourth retraction, due
to “inconsistent” data appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Macchiarini co-author objects to investigation’s misconduct verdict
One of Paolo Macchiarini’s co-authors on a 2011 Lancet paper describing an
allegedly groundbreaking procedure to transplant an artificial trachea
seeded with stem cells is objecting to a recent investigation that
concluded Macchiarini had committed misconduct. Ola Hermanson, who studies
neural stem cells at Karolinska Institutet, argued in a report dated June
29 that the […]
The post Macchiarini co-author objects to investigation’s misconduct verdict
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Values were outside expected ranges”: Toxicology paper spiked after audit
Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences have
retracted a 2014 article after a review unearthed unresolved problems with
the study’s control material. The retracted paper, “Effect of Temperature
and Storage Time on Sorbitol Dehydrogenase Activity in Sprague-Dawley Rat
Serum and Plasma,” looked to test the durability and stability of sorbitol
dehydrogenase, an […]
The post “Values were outside expected ranges”: Toxicology paper spiked
after audit appeared first on Retraction Watch.
JBC cancer paper felled by duplication is one author’s second retraction this month
A 2002 paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry on how lung cancer
cells resist death has been retracted for duplicating figures from a 2001
paper. The retracted paper, “Fibroblast growth factor-2 induces
translational regulation of Bcl-XL and Bcl-2 via a MEK-dependent pathway:
correlation with resistance to etoposide-induced apoptosis,” shares the
first and last authors […]
The post JBC cancer paper felled by duplication is one author’s second
retraction this month appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Accounting professor notches 30 (!) retractions after misconduct finding
It began with a retraction due to a “misstatement” in November 2012, which
led to an investigation that found the first author, James E.
Hunton, guilty of misconduct. Now, the floodgates have opened, and Hunton
has 31 retractions under his belt, making him the newest addition to the
Retraction Watch leaderboard. A month after the first retraction in […]
The post Accounting professor notches 30 (!) retractions after misconduct
finding appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Two more retractions make four for bone researcher
Bone anatomists have retracted two papers on primate jawbone structure from
the Journal of Anatomy due to “errors in the validation protocol and data,”
marking the fourth retraction for one of the authors. Olga
Panagiotopoulou retracted two other papers over the past year, all of which
were due to a common methodological problem. As Panagiotopoulou — who
completed […]
The post Two more retractions make four for bone researcher appeared first
on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: LaCour loses job offer; new Science data guidelines; Macchiarini grant funding frozen
This week at Retraction Watch saw us report on thousands of retractions
from IEEE, which will have a serious effect on retraction record-keeping, a
bizarre case of author impersonation, and a look at dentistry in outer
space. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Princeton has rescinded its job
offer to Michael LaCour, the co-author of the […]
The post Weekend reads: LaCour loses job offer; new Science data
guidelines; Macchiarini grant funding frozen appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
A tale of two journals: Elsevier retracts paper after publishing it in the wrong journal
If you happen to pick up this month’s issue of Economic Modelling, there’s
a little surprise on page 307—blank pages. Publisher Elsevier has retracted
a paper from that space because it “inadvertently published” the paper in
the journal. In fact, Elsevier meant to include the paper in the pages of
its other journal, Energy Economics. […]
The post A tale of two journals: Elsevier retracts paper after publishing
it in the wrong journal appeared first on Retraction Watch.
PubPeer Selections: correction for Cell paper on stem cells; why omit controls; peer review report surfaces
Here’s another installment of PubPeer Selections: “We have contacted the
journal editors and agreed an erratum which will be published shortly,”
writes Austin Smith, last author of a Cell paper on stem cells. “These
controls were not included in the manuscript as we felt that it would be
too confusing for the readers…” writes the last […]
The post PubPeer Selections: correction for Cell paper on stem cells; why
omit controls; peer review report surfaces appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
One publisher appears to have retracted thousands of meeting abstracts. Yes, thousands.
Here at Retraction Watch, we’ve covered somewhere shy of 2,000 retractions
in our nearly five years of existence. With this post, we may be more than
doubling that total count. That’s because it looks like IEEE may have
retracted thousands of meeting abstracts. Yes, thousands. We don’t know the
exact number, but a search for […]
The post One publisher appears to have retracted thousands of meeting
abstracts. Yes, thousands. appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Lost your data? Blame an earthquake
A natural disaster is to blame for a retraction about lethal brain tumors.
At least, that’s where the authors say the problem started: with a 2010
earthquake that caused a loss of “substantial data.” The paper,
“Superoxide-dependent uptake of vitamin C in human glioma cells,” looks at
how the cells of lethal brain tumors interact […]
The post Lost your data? Blame an earthquake appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Oncogene to retract breast cancer paper following years-old misconduct investigation
Oncogene is retracting a 2010 paper on the molecular details of breast
cancer cells as they undergo metastasis following an investigation that
discovered the first author had committed misconduct. The thing is, the
investigation concluded in 2012, and the paper — “miR-661 expression in
SNAI1-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition contributes to breast
cancer cell invasion […]
The post Oncogene to retract breast cancer paper following years-old
misconduct investigation appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Lancet Oncology updates conflicts of interest statement for cancer-cell phone paper
The Lancet Oncology is correcting a 2011 article about the cancer risks of
radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, such as those from cell phones, to
clarify information about potential conflicts of interest for one of the
experts who was involved in its preparation. The assessments appeared as a
monograph for the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
However, after the 2011 […]
The post Lancet Oncology updates conflicts of interest statement for
cancer-cell phone paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Beekeeper association stung by retraction after posting accusations about major honey processor
The American Honey Producers Association has apparently retracted an online
article that said Honey Holding — a.k.a Honey Solutions, an industrial
honey processor — had been charged with tax evasion and illegally selling
Chinese honey containing corn syrup and sugar. According to the note: AHPA
has removed the article from its website, and is correcting and […]
The post Beekeeper association stung by retraction after posting
accusations about major honey processor appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Proven plagiarism” extracts paper on keeping teeth healthy in outer space
Aeronautic dentistry seems like a fairly unique field, but a review article
about keeping teeth healthy in outer space has been retracted from the
International Journal of Stomatology & Occlusion Medicine for not being
quite unique enough. “Aeronautic dentistry: an upcoming branch,” a review
article, appears to have lifted pieces of other works “verbatim and without
[…]
The post “Proven plagiarism” extracts paper on keeping teeth healthy in
outer space appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Northwestern pulls bioethics publication with oral sex essay, reposts one year later
Northwestern University has reposted a publication from the Medical
Humanities & Bioethics Program at the Feinberg School of Medicine that
included a controversial essay about oral sex, after it was pulled for more
than a year. The essay was included in an issue guest edited by faculty
member Alice Dreger—who penned a post for us in March about the ways […]
The post Northwestern pulls bioethics publication with oral sex essay,
reposts one year later appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Duplication of “a major part of text and results” adds up to third retraction for mathematician
An article by Alexander Spivak, a mathematician based in Israel, is being
retracted from the proceedings of a 2014 numerical analysis meeting because
Spivak had already published “a major part of text and results” in a
mathematics journal in 2010. Spivak, a member of the faculty of sciences at
Holon Institute of Technology, has a bit of a […]
The post Duplication of “a major part of text and results” adds up to third
retraction for mathematician appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Food fight: Animal nutrition author disputes two retractions
A pair of animal nutrition researchers in India have now had a
second paper on the nutritional value of a fungal treatment for wheat straw
retracted, and one of the authors is very unhappy about it. M.S. Mahesh of
the National Dairy Research Institute at Deemed University claims a
co-author issued “abusive letters” to an editor of the journal where the
first […]
The post Food fight: Animal nutrition author disputes two retractions
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Plagiarism identified in computer face recognition paper
A paper about computerized facial recognition has been pulled because “most
of the contents of this article is plagiarized from an article under
consideration elsewhere,” according to the retraction statement.
Applications of computer face recognition include surveillance and criminal
identification. The authors propose a new method for picking out facial
features in the original 2013 article, “Pose […]
The post Plagiarism identified in computer face recognition paper appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Yup, this happened: “Mystery” writer impersonated cardiovascular pathologist, penned published letter
A 2014 letter in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has been
retracted because editors aren’t sure who wrote it. “Can Grayscale IVUS
Detect Necrotic Core-Rich Plaque?”, a letter on the potential of
intravascular ultrasound, was submitted under the name of a researcher at
the University of Copenhagen, Erling Falk. The paper was […]
The post Yup, this happened: “Mystery” writer impersonated cardiovascular
pathologist, penned published letter appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Duplication, “manipulated” data send carpal tunnel paper down black hole
The Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery has retracted a study about
whether developing fistula puts hemodialysis patients at higher risk of
carpal tunnel syndrome because it “duplicated substantial parts” and
“manipulated some original data” from a study by other researchers. The
retraction notice says it all: The article has been retracted by the
Co-Editor because […]
The post Duplication, “manipulated” data send carpal tunnel paper down
black hole appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Duplication rampant in cancer research?; meet the data detective; journals behaving badly
This week saw us profiled in The New York Times and de Volkskrant, and the
introduction of our new staff writer. We also launched The Retraction Watch
Leaderboard. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Are a quarter of basic
cancer studies full of data duplication? That’s what a new study says, and
editors are ignoring the […]
The post Weekend reads: Duplication rampant in cancer research?; meet the
data detective; journals behaving badly appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Meet the new Retraction Watch staff writer, Shannon Palus
Retraction Watch readers, please join us in welcoming Shannon Palus to our
team. Palus, who has written for Discover, Slate, The Atlantic, and a host
of other publications, joined us last week. She has a B.Sc. in physics,
with a minor in anthropology, from McGill, where she worked at The McGill
Daily. Since graduating, she’s worked as […]
The post Meet the new Retraction Watch staff writer, Shannon Palus appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
“Copyright issues that cannot be resolved” and duplicate publication sink two groundwater papers
Springer has retracted two articles about groundwater in Algeria from its
journal Environmental Earth Sciences – one was sent down the well by
“copyright issues that cannot be resolved,” and the other by a duplicate
publication two years prior. The first article of the two, “Principal
component, chemical, bacteriological, and isotopic analyses of Oued-Souf
groundwaters,” was published […]
The post “Copyright issues that cannot be resolved” and duplicate
publication sink two groundwater papers appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“This article was published in error”: Economics paper defaults
An economist in Taiwan has retracted a paper about from Economic
Development Quarterly because it was “published in error.” The paper —
first published online March 5, 2013 — addresses the influence of
information and communication technology on economic growth. According to
the notice, the paper included “the original dataset and excerpts from an
earlier draft of the […]
The post “This article was published in error”: Economics paper defaults
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“If you think it’s rude to ask to look at your co-authors’ data, you’re not doing science”: Guest post
Last month, the community was shaken when a major study on gay marriage in
Science was retracted following questions on its funding, data, and
methodology. The senior author, Donald Green, made it clear he was not
privy to many details of the paper — which raised some questions for C. K.
Gunsalus, director of the National […]
The post “If you think it’s rude to ask to look at your co-authors’ data,
you’re not doing science”: Guest post appeared first on Retraction Watch.
MacArthur awardee retracts signaling biology paper
A prominent biochemist and his co-author are pulling one of their papers in
the Journal of Biological Chemistry because…well, we’re not sure. That’s
because the retraction note is – as we’ve come to expect from JBC – not
very informative. Here’s the only explanation for the retraction of “The
Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule (DSCAM) Interacts […]
The post MacArthur awardee retracts signaling biology paper appeared first
on Retraction Watch.
Columbia biologists “deeply regret” Nature retraction, after postdoc faked 74 panels in 3 papers
A team of Columbia University biologists has retracted a 2013 Nature paper
on the molecular pathways underlying Alzheimer’s disease, the second
retraction from the group after a postdoc faked data. An April report from
the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) found the a first author, former
Columbia postdoc Ryousuke Fujita, responsible for “knowingly and
intentionally fabricating and falsifying research in seventy-four […]
The post Columbia biologists “deeply regret” Nature retraction, after
postdoc faked 74 panels in 3 papers appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Retraction after engineering journal presents new publishing guidelines — twice
Editors of the Journal of Hydrologic Engineering are retracting an
editorial that presents guidelines for publishing in the journal because
they mistakenly published it twice – once in June and once in November of
last year. (Presumably, one of the guidelines is to not publish the same
article twice.) Although the duplication was accidental, the corresponding
[…]
The post Retraction after engineering journal presents new publishing
guidelines — twice appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Who has the most retractions? Introducing the Retraction Watch leaderboard
Ever since we broke the news about the issues with the now-retracted
Science paper about changing people’s minds on gay marriage, we’ve been the
subject of a lot of press coverage, which has in turn led a number of
people to ask us: Who has the most retractions? Well, we’ve tried to answer
that in […]
The post Who has the most retractions? Introducing the Retraction Watch
leaderboard appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Rabbit redo: Paper on lepus hepatitis pulled for mutation that “was not supposed to be present”
The authors of recent article about the rabbit hepatitis E virus have
pulled the paper after discovering an unexpected mutation in their viral
clone that likely affected the analysis. They realized their mistake soon
after the article, “RNA transcripts of full-length cDNA clones of rabbit
hepatitis E virus are infectious in rabbits,” was published online in […]
The post Rabbit redo: Paper on lepus hepatitis pulled for mutation that
“was not supposed to be present” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
The consequences of retraction: Do scientists forgive and forget?
Here at Retraction Watch, we are reminded every day that everybody
(including us) makes mistakes — what matters is, how you handle yourself
when it happens. That’s why we created a “doing the right thing” category,
to flag incidents where scientists have owned up to their errors and taken
steps to correct them. We’re not suggesting […]
The post The consequences of retraction: Do scientists forgive and forget?
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
High-profile aging paper posts old erratum, requested by author more than one year prior
Genome Biology has partially retracted a high-profile paper about an
epigenetic biomarker of aging – a year and a half after the author alerted
the journal to a software coding error that invalidated one of its
findings. The paper, “DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types,”
garnered some media coverage and forms the basis […]
The post High-profile aging paper posts old erratum, requested by author
more than one year prior appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Significant overlap” between figures spurs note of concern for 13-year-old retinoblastoma paper
The American Journal of Pathology has posted a note of concern to a 2002
paper about retinoblastoma after discovering two sets of figures “share
significant overlap… suggesting that they did not originate from different
specimens.” The overlap was “simultaneously brought to the attention of the
Editors” by both the corresponding author and a “concerned reader.” The […]
The post “Significant overlap” between figures spurs note of concern for
13-year-old retinoblastoma paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Sexism from a Nobel laureate; publisher deception; irreproducibility’s price tag
The week at Retraction Watch featured the story behind a Nature retraction,
and the retraction of a paper by a pioneer in the field of exosome
research. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt
has resigned from an honorary professorship at University College London,
after making sexist comments at the World Conference […]
The post Weekend reads: Sexism from a Nobel laureate; publisher deception;
irreproducibility’s price tag appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Nature retraction, resignation result after lung cancer cell lines “cannot be those specified”
Upon realizing they had experienced a case of mistaken cell-line identity,
the authors of a 2014 Nature paper on lung cancer think “it prudent to
retract pending more thorough investigation,” as they explain in a notice
published Wednesday. The problem seems to stem from more than just honest
error, according to corresponding author Julian Downward, a […]
The post Nature retraction, resignation result after lung cancer cell lines
“cannot be those specified” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Cancer paper pulled due to “identical text” from one published 6 days prior; author objects
Clinical Cancer Research is retracting a paper on the immunosuppressive
effects of glioma due to “evidence of duplicate and/or redundant
publication.” According to the retraction notice, the 2010 paper bore
exceeding similarities to another one published by the same group of
researchers six days prior. That second paper appeared in Molecular Cancer
Therapeutics, which – like […]
The post Cancer paper pulled due to “identical text” from one published 6
days prior; author objects appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Evidence of data duplication” infects lung inflammation paper from Harvard and Yale
A team of Harvard and Yale biologists have retracted an Infection and
Immunity paper due to data duplication. After the duplication came to
light, the erroneous figures were corrected using original data, but the
results affected “some of the manuscript’s conclusions.” An ethics panel
subsequently recommended retraction, according to the journal, and the
authors agreed. The paper, “NOD2 […]
The post “Evidence of data duplication” infects lung inflammation paper
from Harvard and Yale appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Significant concerns” and formal investigation unwind Nature Nanotech sequencing paper
Following “significant concerns” raised by outside researchers and a formal
university investigation, a group of authors in Taiwan has retracted a
Nature Nanotechnology paper on DNA sequencing after they “could not
reproduce the results of the work,” or even provide “a complete set of raw
data for the original experiments.” The paper, “DNA sequencing using
electrical conductance measurements […]
The post “Significant concerns” and formal investigation unwind Nature
Nanotech sequencing paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Fungus among us, but what kind? Typing error spawns retraction for mushroom paper
As every mushroom lover knows, weekend mycology is no sport for the
lily-livered. Tasty species often look awfully like their deadly cousins.
Turns out, typing can even be problematic for the experts. Natural Products
Research is retracting a 2014 paper on shelf fungus because… well, it
wasn’t about shelf fungus after all. The paper, “Chemical […]
The post Fungus among us, but what kind? Typing error spawns retraction for
mushroom paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Pressure to publish not to blame for misconduct, says new study
A new study suggests that much of what we think about misconduct —
including the idea that it is linked to the unrelenting pressure on
scientists to publish high-profile papers — is incorrect. In a new paper
out today in PLOS ONE [see update at end of post], Daniele Fanelli, Rodrigo
Costas, and Vincent Larivière performed a retrospective analysis of […]
The post Pressure to publish not to blame for misconduct, says new study
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“I hold my hands up”: PubPeer criticisms spark a biochemist’s offer to retract
In a back-and-forth on PubPeer, a researcher appears to have offered to
retract a paper after commenters challenged the use of identical control
bands on a gel. A person writing as Virginia Commonwealth University
biochemist Paul Dent admitted the control bands of his 2007 Molecular
Pharmacology paper, “Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Modulates Prostate Cancer
Cell Survival after Irradiation or HMG […]
The post “I hold my hands up”: PubPeer criticisms spark a biochemist’s
offer to retract appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Exosome pioneer’s paper retracted after investigation finds “multiple” faked figures
The Journal of Immunology is retracting a 2006 article about the role of
exosomes in pregnancy at the behest of the University of Louisville in
Kentucky, following a misconduct investigation that “determined multiple
figures” in the paper were falsified. First author Douglas Taylor is a
pioneer in exosome biology, having discovered the release of exosomes from
tumor […]
The post Exosome pioneer’s paper retracted after investigation finds
“multiple” faked figures appeared first on Retraction Watch.
About-to-be-dismissed lawsuit reveals details of chronic fatigue syndrome-XMRV research fiasco
A case filed by chronic fatigue syndrome researcher Judy Mikovits — and
about to be dismissed on technical grounds — reveals that Mikovits believes
her firing from a research institute was in retaliation for blowing the
whistle on activities there. The suit — which we’ve made available here —
was originally filed in November 2014 […]
The post About-to-be-dismissed lawsuit reveals details of chronic fatigue
syndrome-XMRV research fiasco appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Another “first author has accepted responsibility” retraction from immunity journal
Scientists have pulled their 2013 Infection and Immunity paper after a
reader noticed duplicated data in three figures, and the first author was
“unable to provide the original data used to construct the figures,”
according to the journal’s editor-in-chief. According to the retraction
note, “the first author has accepted responsibility for these anomalies” —
similar to […]
The post Another “first author has accepted responsibility” retraction from
immunity journal appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“A decision of misconduct was reached”: Two lung papers expire
Two papers about the molecular underpinnings of lung damage are being
retracted following an investigation at Oita University in Japan, which
revealed that images from both papers had been used to depict “different
experimental conditions” in a third paper (which has not been retracted).
It’s not clear which of the authors were the subject of […]
The post “A decision of misconduct was reached”: Two lung papers expire
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
More “unsubstantiated conclusions” partially sink another origin of life paper
A trio of researchers based in Russia is asking to pull another set of
figures and a table from a 2008 paper on modeling ATP formation after an
investigation found the fourth researcher – the first author on the paper —
“falsified or fabricated” the data they reflect. The paper, in Origins of
Life and Evolution of […]
The post More “unsubstantiated conclusions” partially sink another origin
of life paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Honorary authorship demands, fetishizing metrics, does media attention drive research agenda?
The week at Retraction Watch featured a marriage proposal tucked into a
paper’s acknowledgements section, the retraction of a controversial Science
advice column, and The New York Times pushing for more focus and funding on
research misconduct. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: “My professor
demands to be listed as an author on many of my […]
The post Weekend reads: Honorary authorship demands, fetishizing metrics,
does media attention drive research agenda? appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Article on suicide in Egypt retracted for double publication
A 2012 article published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences is being
retracted because of an “overlap with a previous publication by the same
authors.” The corresponding author, Heba Yassa, a lecturer at Assiut
University in Egypt, readily explained in an email exchange that the mix-up
was due to a miscommunication with the editor of another journal, which she
[…]
The post Article on suicide in Egypt retracted for double publication
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
We’ll tell you later, says ophthalmology journal about retracted paper
The European Ophthalmic Review has retracted a 2014 article about the
macular degeneration drug aflibercept without any explanation. Here’s the
retraction notice, such as it is: This article has been retracted. Please
check back for further information. We can’t find any trace of the article
or an abstract for it online, but have obtained a copy […]
The post We’ll tell you later, says ophthalmology journal about retracted
paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Will you marry me?”: An unusual note sneaks into acknowledgements of scientific paper
Scientists have discovered the skull of a new dinosaur, a feathered
relative of the Triceratops, according to new findings released in Current
Biology today. Now, we know what you may be thinking – we don’t normally
cover science news. We’re writing about this paper because of a little note
we saw in the acknowledgements: C.M.B. […]
The post “Will you marry me?”: An unusual note sneaks into acknowledgements
of scientific paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Cell Press investigating possible image manipulation in influential yeast genetics paper
Cell Press is looking into anonymous allegations that a pair of influential
papers on gene activation in yeast may contain more than two dozen
instances of image manipulation, according to a spokesperson for the
journal. The accusations first appeared in March on PubPeer, where they
triggered a small avalanche of comments, including one asserting
“unambiguous […]
The post Cell Press investigating possible image manipulation in
influential yeast genetics paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Flood paper washed away after “oversight” leads to publication of wrong manuscript
The editor of the Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering
has retracted a paper mapping flood zones in Iran because the authors
mistakenly uploaded a manuscript that had already been published elsewhere.
According to corresponding author Majid Bagheri of K.N. Toosi University of
Technology in Tehran, a different paper on wastewater treatment was
accepted and peer-reviewed […]
The post Flood paper washed away after “oversight” leads to publication of
wrong manuscript appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Yet another investigation casts doubt on Förster’s findings; he responds with “outrage”
A new group of experts is suggesting there’s something fishy in the body of
work of social psychologist Jens Förster. The University of
Amsterdam, Förster’s former employer, commissioned three statistical
experts to examine his publication record, looking for signs that the data
are not authentic. Well, they found some signs: After conducting an
extensive statistical analysis, […]
The post Yet another investigation casts doubt on Förster’s findings; he
responds with “outrage” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Asphalt paper paved over for allegedly plagiarizing a student’s thesis
The publishers of the journal Petroleum Science and Technology have
retracted a paper because one of the authors “did not agree to co-author
this manuscript,” and did not even communicate with the other three
authors. According to one involved party, the problem is bigger than just
lack of communication: The paper, “Fatigue and Low Temperature Fracture in
[…]
The post Asphalt paper paved over for allegedly plagiarizing a student’s
thesis appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“[T]hese things can happen in every lab:” Mutant plant paper uprooted after authors correct their own findings
Three biologists at Tokyo Gakugei University in Japan have retracted a 2014
Frontiers in Plant Science paper on abnormal root growth in Arabidopsis “in
light of new experimental evidence” showing they fingered the wrong mutant
gene. The journal editors are hailing the retraction as an “excellent
example of self-correction of the scientific record.” The paper,
“Mechanosensitive channel candidate […]
The post “[T]hese things can happen in every lab:” Mutant plant paper
uprooted after authors correct their own findings appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
New York Times pushes for more focus, funding on research misconduct
The New York Times has an editorial today with which we wholeheartedly
agree: The newspaper is calling on scientists — and even the government —
to pay more attention to misconduct in research. (It also doesn’t hurt that
the paper mentions us.) The proximate cause of the editorial, titled
“Scientists Who Cheat,” is the retraction […]
The post New York Times pushes for more focus, funding on research
misconduct appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Science pulls advice post suggesting student “put up with” advisor looking down her shirt
The careers site of Science magazine has pulled an advice column posted
today from virologist Alice Huang, who suggested a postdoc tolerate an
advisor’s roving eye. In the retraction note, Science Careers apologizes
for publishing the post, even if it was for just a few hours. “We regret
that the article had not undergone proper editorial review […]
The post Science pulls advice post suggesting student “put up with” advisor
looking down her shirt appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Sub-optimal: Industrial optimization paper crushed by author’s “serious error of judgment”
Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, an Elsevier publication,
has retracted a 2014 paper by researchers in China and the United Kingdom
for data misuse and authorship issues. The article, “Optimization of
fluidized bed spray granulation process based on a multiphase hybrid
model,” was purportedly written by Dapeng Niu, of the College of
Information Science and […]
The post Sub-optimal: Industrial optimization paper crushed by author’s
“serious error of judgment” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
The “results should not be published:” Company confidentiality agreement squashes two insecticide papers
West Virginia University biologists have retracted two papers on
insecticides for fruit pests due to a confidentiality agreement with a
chemical manufacturer stating that the “results should not be published.”
The retracted 2014 articles in Arthropod Management Tests, “Control of
Internal Lepidoptera and other insect pests in apple, 2013” and “Control of
Oriental Fruit Moth and other insect pests in peach, 2013,” were written […]
The post The “results should not be published:” Company confidentiality
agreement squashes two insecticide papers appeared first on Retraction Watch
.
Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study saga continues; Elsevier policy sparks concern; a string of scandals
As might have been expected, continuing developments in the Michael LaCour
gay canvassing study retraction have drowned out coverage of stories that
ordinarily might capture a lot of attention, such as fake case reports
making their way into CDC data. A sampling: Berkeley graduate student David
Broockman, one of the people whose critique brought down […]
The post Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study saga continues; Elsevier
policy sparks concern; a string of scandals appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Data “were destroyed due to privacy/confidentiality requirements,” says co-author of retracted gay canvassing study
As promised, Michael LaCour, the co-author of the now-retracted Science
paper on gay canvassing, has posted a detailed response to the allegations
against him. In the 23-page document — available here — LaCour claims to
introduce evidence uncovering discrepancies between the timeline of events
presented in Broockman et al. (2015) and the actual timeline of […]
The post Data “were destroyed due to privacy/confidentiality requirements,”
says co-author of retracted gay canvassing study appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Oregon public health employee faked 56 infection case reports: ORI
A former employee in the public health division of the Oregon Health
Authority committed misconduct in 56 case reports about Clostridium
difficile infections in Klamath County, Oregon, as well as in a manuscript
submitted to JAMA Internal Medicine and a published report in the Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report in March, 2012. Ryan Asherin, previously […]
The post Oregon public health employee faked 56 infection case reports: ORI
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Brain paper retracted after university report finds “substantial data misrepresentation”
The Journal of Neuroscience is retracting a 2012 paper on how estrogen
produced in the brain shapes the auditory system on the basis of “a report
from Northwestern University that describes substantial data
misrepresentation” in the paper. The paper, “Mechanistic Basis and
Functional Roles of Long-Term Plasticity in Auditory Neurons Induced by a
Brain-Generated Estrogen,” […]
The post Brain paper retracted after university report finds “substantial
data misrepresentation” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Chocolate-diet study publisher claims paper was actually rejected, only live “for some hours.” Email, however, says…
Following revelations in io9.com this week from John Bohannon about how he
successfully “created” health news by conducting a flawed trial of the
health benefits of chocolate and gaming the data to produce statistically
significant results, the journal that ultimately published the findings is
now claiming the paper wasn’t accepted. Trouble is, we’ve got
correspondence from […]
The post Chocolate-diet study publisher claims paper was actually rejected,
only live “for some hours.” Email, however, says… appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Science retracts troubled gay canvassing study against LaCour’s objections
Following revelations of data issues and other problems (which crashed our
server last week), Science is retracting a paper claiming that short
conversations could change people’s minds on same-sex marriage. The
co-author who admitted to faking the data “does not agree” to the
retraction, according to Science. Here’s more from the note: Science, with
the concurrence […]
The post Science retracts troubled gay canvassing study against LaCour’s
objections appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Should the chocolate-diet sting study be retracted? And why the coverage doesn’t surprise a news watchdog
Note: This story has been updated to include the journal’s response. See
below. Yesterday, John Bohannon described in i09.com how
he successfully”created” health news — he conducted a flawed trial of the
health benefits of chocolate, gamed the data to produce statistically
significant results, and published the findings in the International
Archives of Medicine: It was terrible science. […]
The post Should the chocolate-diet sting study be retracted? And why the
coverage doesn’t surprise a news watchdog appeared first on Retraction Watch
.
Misconduct found in 7 papers by Macchiarini, says English write-up of investigation
The Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has released an English translation of
an external review that found Paolo Macchiarini, a celebrated surgeon who
is credited with creating tracheas from cadavers and patients’ own stem
cells, committed misconduct in a series of papers describing the work. You
can read the entire report, news of which was first […]
The post Misconduct found in 7 papers by Macchiarini, says English write-up
of investigation appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Scientists “wish to resign as co-authors:” Quantum dot paper retracted
Chemical Communications has retracted a 2015 article by a group of
researchers in China over concerns about fabricated data and an incredible
shrinking list of authors. The paper, “N, S co-doped graphene quantum dots
from a single source precursor used for photodynamic cancer therapy under
two-photon excitation,” was ostensibly written by nine researchers at the
[…]
The post Scientists “wish to resign as co-authors:” Quantum dot paper
retracted appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Geology dust-up: Second sand paper swept away for duplication
Citing an “abuse of the scientific publishing system,” the editors of
Geomorphology have retracted a paper from a quartet of geologists in China
for containing “significant similarity” to four other papers. It is the
second recent retraction for the group: In a loop of self-plagiarism, the
Geomorphology paper was cited as a source of copied material […]
The post Geology dust-up: Second sand paper swept away for duplication
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Fluid mechanics article retracted with no explanation
An article published earlier this year has been retracted from the Journal
of Heat Transfer. But the retraction notice gives no information about what
was amiss. The article is entitled “Neural Network Methodology for Modeling
Heat Transfer in Wake Flow,” and the retraction notice, in full, reads: The
above referenced paper is being retracted from […]
The post Fluid mechanics article retracted with no explanation appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Bully for you! Duplication earns demerit for school cruelty paper
Archives of Trauma Research has retracted a 2014 paper on bullying by a
group in Iran who appear to have been double-fisted in their approach to
publishing. The article, “Epidemiological Pattern of Bullying Among School
Children in Mazandaran Province, Iran,” was written by researchers from
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran. Its conclusions:
[…]
The post Bully for you! Duplication earns demerit for school cruelty paper
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Heart repair study retraction marks second for Mercer University researcher
Authors of a study on cardiac repair after heart attack are retracting it
from Basic Research in Cardiology because they used “the same samples… to
represent two distinct groups on two occasions.” We find the language of
the retraction somewhat confusing, but to the best of our understanding it
means that they compared apples to […]
The post Heart repair study retraction marks second for Mercer University
researcher appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation ever; blame the antibodies?
As we noted Saturday, there was so much happening around the web last week
that it made sense to break up Weekend Reads, especially since this is a
holiday weekend in the U.S. and elsewhere. Here’s part 2: Last Wednesday,
102-year-old Ingeborg Rapoport became the oldest person to ever receive a
PhD, righting a Nazi […]
The post Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation
ever; blame the antibodies? appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the world’s biggest faker was caught
This week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the Science same-sex
marriage study, after we broke the news Wednesday morning that one of its
authors had requested its retraction. (And crashed our servers in the
process.) So the first section of this Weekend Reads will focus on pieces
following up on that story: The New […]
The post Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the
world’s biggest faker was caught appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Chip slip: Irreproducibility erases computer memory paper
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have retracted a paper in
Nanoscale about an experimental computer chip after they were unable to
recreate their published results. “We retract this article to avoid
misleading readers and intend to undertake further tests to confirm our
previous results,” they write in the notice. The scientists are working […]
The post Chip slip: Irreproducibility erases computer memory paper appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
“The first author assumes all responsibility:” Malaria vaccine article retracted for image manipulation
Authors of a 2012 article in Infection and Immunity investigating a malaria
vaccine strategy are retracting it because it “contains several images that
do not accurately reflect the experimental data.” The paper, “Fine
Specificity of Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein Binding Engagement of
the Duffy Antigen on Human Erythrocytes,” has been cited 9 times, according
to Thomson […]
The post “The first author assumes all responsibility:” Malaria vaccine
article retracted for image manipulation appeared first on Retraction Watch.
What should an ideal retraction notice look like?
Have you seen our “unhelpful retraction notices” category, a motley
collection of vague, misleading, and even information-free entries? We’d
like to make it obsolete, and we need our readers’ help. Here’s what we
mean: Next month, Ivan will be traveling to Rio to take part in the World
Conference on Research Integrity. One of his […]
The post What should an ideal retraction notice look like? appeared first
on Retraction Watch.
JAMA vitamin-hip fracture study earns Expression of Concern for integrity issues
JAMA has issued an Expression of Concern about a 2005 study of whether two
different types of vitamin B could prevent broken hips in people who’d
suffered strokes. The original study concluded: In this Japanese population
with a high baseline fracture risk, combined treatment with folate and
vitamin B12 is safe and effective in reducing the […]
The post JAMA vitamin-hip fracture study earns Expression of Concern for
integrity issues appeared first on Retraction Watch.
The “worst moment of my scientific career:” Two bird migration articles brought down by analytical error
Evolutionary and conservation biologists in Spain are retracting two
articles – one from the Journal of Avian Biology and the other from Ardeola
– because they discovered a fatal flaw in their analysis. The Journal of
Avian Biology article, “Are European birds leaving traditional wintering
grounds in the Mediterranean?” aimed to determine whether the abundance of
[…]
The post The “worst moment of my scientific career:” Two bird migration
articles brought down by analytical error appeared first on Retraction Watch
.
Author retracts study of changing minds on same-sex marriage after colleague admits data were faked
In what can only be described as a remarkable and swift series of events,
one of the authors of a much-ballyhooed Science paper claiming that short
conversations could change people’s minds on same-sex marriage is
retracting it following revelations that the data were faked by his
co-author. Donald Green, of Columbia, and Michael LaCour, a […]
The post Author retracts study of changing minds on same-sex marriage after
colleague admits data were faked appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Super-surgeon” Macchiarini guilty of misconduct, external review finds
Paolo Macchiarini, the celebrated surgeon whose work has come under
scrutiny in Italy and at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, committed
misconduct in six papers, according to an external reviewer. Macchiarini is
best known for creating tracheas from cadavers and patients’ own stem
cells. The findings of the external review, first reported yesterday by SvD
Nyheter, […]
The post “Super-surgeon” Macchiarini guilty of misconduct, external review
finds appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Highly cited paper on women and heart disease retracted for failure to replicate
A highly cited study examining the risks of heart disease in
post-menopausal women with symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has
been retracted by its authors because they could not replicate the results.
Here’s the retraction notice for the paper, which appeared in the Journal
of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism: The article “Post-menopausal Women
With […]
The post Highly cited paper on women and heart disease retracted for
failure to replicate appeared first on Retraction Watch.
ORI-sanctioned former UT-Southwestern cancer researchers up to 10 retractions
There’s been a 10th retraction from two former postdocs at a
UT-Southwestern cancer research center who were sanctioned by the Office of
Research Integrity (ORI) last September, in part due to observations and
comments from Retraction Watch readers. It’s a 2008 Cancer Letters paper,
“Methylation of apoptosis related genes in the pathogenesis and prognosis
of […]
The post ORI-sanctioned former UT-Southwestern cancer researchers up to 10
retractions appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Improper citation, PubPeer comment snowballs into double retraction in phys chem journal
ChemPhysChem is retracting a pair of articles by a group of researchers in
China and their colleagues who pieced together the work from two previously
published articles. The papers appeared in 2012 and 2015, and were flagged
by a reader whose own work had been improperly cited, according to the
editor of the journal. The 2012 […]
The post Improper citation, PubPeer comment snowballs into double
retraction in phys chem journal appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Turning journal spam into a paper; embracing science’s flaws; ending bias
This week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a Cell paper by
Harvard researchers and the retraction of a JCI study by NIH scientists.
Here’s what was happening elsewhere: A researcher received more than 1,000
spam emails from journals in just over a year, so he and two colleagues
decided to study them. “Science is […]
The post Weekend reads: Turning journal spam into a paper; embracing
science’s flaws; ending bias appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Duplication snuffs out pollen abstract
A Canadian research team has retracted a meeting abstract “published in
error” from a supplement by Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology, as it
had previously been published in another journal. The December 2014
abstract, “A post-hoc qualitative analysis of real time heads-up pollen
counting versus traditional microscopy counting in the environmental
exposure unit (EEU),” describes […]
The post Duplication snuffs out pollen abstract appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Retraction-plagued management researcher hit with expression of concern
The editor-in-chief of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
has issued an Expression of Concern about a 2011 paper that explores the
link between ethical leadership and employee performance. The paper,
“Linking ethical leadership to employee performance: The roles of
leader–member exchange, self-efficacy, and organizational identification,”
is one of seven that were flagged in a […]
Harvard biofilm paper in Cell breaks down after challenged findings can’t be repeated
Researchers at Harvard have retracted a Cell paper on biofilm disassembly
after they repeated the experiment—following contradictory results from
another team—and the new results “can no longer support” the original
conclusions. The 2012 paper, “A Self-Produced Trigger for Biofilm
Disassembly that Targets Exopolysaccharide,” describes a factor called
norspermidine, produced by the bacteria Bacillus subtilis, that appeared
to break […]
“[W]e can learn from these bad actors:” Trail of retractions follows former Vanderbilt researcher’s fraud
Authors have retracted three papers from the Journal of Physiology because
they contained “falsified or fabricated data.” The papers, which address
calcium signaling in heart muscle cells, are among the six pegged for
retraction after an Office of Research Integrity (ORI) investigation into
one of the authors, Igor Dzhura, formerly of Vanderbilt University. The ORI
[…]
The post “[W]e can learn from these bad actors:” Trail of retractions
follows former Vanderbilt researcher’s fraud appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Clinical trial of Achilles tendon therapy retracted for not actually being a clinical trial
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery has retracted a 2012 paper because of
ethical violations, initially flagged by the journal in 2013. The study,
which examined the use of autologous cell therapy in treating Achilles
tendinosis, claimed in its abstract to have “conducted a randomized,
double-blind study on forty Achilles tendons in thirty-two patients.” […]
The post Clinical trial of Achilles tendon therapy retracted for not
actually being a clinical trial appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Déjà vu: JBC epigenetics paper is retracted, then largely re-published with fewer authors
A group of authors have withdrawn a 2011 Journal of Biological Chemistry
paper, but then appear to have re-published almost the same paper a month
later, only this time with just five of the original nine authors. The
paper, “HDAC3-dependent reversible lysine acetylation of cardiac myosin
heavy chain isoforms modulates their enzymatic and motor activity,” […]
The post Déjà vu: JBC epigenetics paper is retracted, then largely
re-published with fewer authors appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Third retraction for GWU biologist as university seeks to dismiss his $8 million lawsuit
Cancer biologist Rakesh Kumar has chalked up another retraction, this time
for “identical,” “duplicated,” and “replicated” figures and images. It
comes on the heels of a flurry of motions in Kumar’s $8 million lawsuit
against his employer, George Washington University, for breach of contract
and emotional distress because it removed him as department chair last year
and […]
The post Third retraction for GWU biologist as university seeks to dismiss
his $8 million lawsuit appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Dude, whose gene is that? Genetics paper retracted for lack of permission
Plant Biotechnology Reports is retracting a 2009 paper by a group of
researchers in South Korea because the authors submitted the article
“without the permission” of the owner of a gene used in the study. The
paper abstract is no longer online, though the Committee on Publication
Ethics (COPE) recommends that retraction notices be linked to the […]
The post Dude, whose gene is that? Genetics paper retracted for lack of
permission appeared first on Retraction Watch.
PNAS paper on dengue virus pulled due to contamination
The authors of a paper on dengue virus vaccine design published last year
in PNAS are retracting it after discovering that their experimental dengue
virus was contaminated. Although they are confident that the strategy is
sound, the authors write in their commendably detailed retraction notice
that the “inadvertent error” rendered the results “uninterpretable.” Here’s
the […]
The post PNAS paper on dengue virus pulled due to contamination appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Double-dipping equals double retraction for fracking paper
Transport in Porous Media and the Journal of Petroleum Science and
Engineering have retracted two articles on shale gas by Chinese researchers
for duplication and other “mistakes.” The articles came from a group at the
State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation at
Southwest Petroleum University, in Chengdu. The articles share […]
The post Double-dipping equals double retraction for fracking paper
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
NIH cancer paper retracted for faked data
Following an investigation into research misconduct, the Journal of
Clinical Investigation has retracted a cancer genetics paper from a
laboratory at the National Institutes of Health due to “data falsification
and fabrication” of four figures and a table in the paper. The paper,
“FOXO3 programs tumor-associated DCs to become tolerogenic in human and
murine prostate […]
The post NIH cancer paper retracted for faked data appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Weekend reads: Should retirement-age scientists make way?; no pay-for-fast-track peer review
The week at Retraction Watch featured lots of news about exercise. Here’s
what was happening elsewhere: Should scientists of retirement age stay at
the bench, or make way for the next generation? Megan Scudellari — whose
byline we’re happy to have here at Retraction Watch — looks into the issue.
What did we learn from […]
The post Weekend reads: Should retirement-age scientists make way?; no
pay-for-fast-track peer review appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Undisclosed industry funding prompts correction of fracking paper
Environmental Science & Technology has issued a correction for a March 2015
paper on methane contamination from gas wells after learning that the
authors failed to disclose funding from Chesapeake Energy Corp., a major
U.S. energy producer. The paper, “Methane Concentrations in Water Wells
Unrelated to Proximity to Existing Oil and Gas Wells in Northeastern […]
The post Undisclosed industry funding prompts correction of fracking paper
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Lead poisoning article disappears for “legal” — but mysterious — reasons
A 2014 article in Occupational Medicine has been pulled with no retraction
notice. Instead, the text was replaced with eight ominous words: This
article has been removed for legal reasons The title of the paper appears
to have been scrubbed from the journal’s table of contents, but in PubMed
it is indexed with the title […]
The post Lead poisoning article disappears for “legal” — but mysterious —
reasons appeared first on Retraction Watch.
CrossFit gym owner sues Ohio State, says fraudulent data led to $273 million in NIH grants
In an lawsuit unsealed yesterday, the owner of a CrossFit gym is suing Ohio
State University (OSU) under the False Claims Act, claiming that
researchers faked data in a university-based study involving his gym — and
that OSU used the study to win $273 million in Federal grants. The suit,
originally filed in February in […]
The post CrossFit gym owner sues Ohio State, says fraudulent data led to
$273 million in NIH grants appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Highly cited cancer researcher pulls review for “similar text and illustrations”
The author of a 2006 review article published in Abdominal Imaging has
retracted it because it hews too closely to previously published articles.
The review described the latest imaging techniques used in cancer, focusing
on genitourinary conditions. Here’s the full text of the retraction notice
for “New Horizons in Genitourinary Oncologic Imaging”: This review article
[…]
The post Highly cited cancer researcher pulls review for “similar text and
illustrations” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Drunk rats paper wasted by “significant statistical errors”, among other issues
Authors from Xinxiang Medical University in Weihui, China, are retracting a
2014 paper in Molecular Biology Reports because… well, because lots of
things. The researchers exposed nine rats to acute levels of alcohol then
compared them to unexposed mice rats, noting differences in gene expression
and molecular pathways. But no one is toasting these findings […]
The post Drunk rats paper wasted by “significant statistical errors”, among
other issues appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Third structure slip-up for chemist in Korea yields retraction
Authors of a 2010 Chemistry – A European Journal article have retracted it
“due to the wrong assignment of structure” of catalysts. The retraction is
the third, by our count, for corresponding author Doo Ok Jang, a chemist at
Yonsei University in Wonju. Jang authored one of the previously retracted
papers with Sung Jun Kim […]
The post Third structure slip-up for chemist in Korea yields retraction
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
So you want to be a whistleblower? Part II
This is the second article in a series by John R. Thomas, Jr., a lawyer at
Gentry Locke who represents whistleblowers in a variety of False Claims Act
cases. In this installment, he writes about how whistleblowers can tell if
they have a viable FCA case. In my first article, I briefly outlined the
role […]
The post So you want to be a whistleblower? Part II appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Authors retract leptin paper due to “fabricated data”
The authors of a study on the effects of the hormone leptin on the liver
have retracted it from Cell Metabolism, almost four months after the Office
of Research Integrity (ORI) determined it contained faked data, courtesy of
its first author. However, the authors say that the paper’s conclusions
remain valid, and are supported by new […]
The post Authors retract leptin paper due to “fabricated data” appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Widely covered editorial extolling importance of diet over exercise “temporarily removed”
The British Journal of Sports Medicine has “temporarily removed” an
editorial arguing that physical activity alone will not cure the obesity
epidemic, following an expression of concern. In its place stands the
following message: This paper has been temporarily removed following an
expression of concern. First author Assem Malhotra, based at the Department
of Cardiology, […]
The post Widely covered editorial extolling importance of diet over
exercise “temporarily removed” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Don’t like annoying ads on Retraction Watch? Here’s how to keep them turned off
Dear Retraction Watch readers: In recent months, since we switched to
Google AdSense, we’ve heard from a number of you that you find some of the
ads on our site annoying. Here’s a secret: We do too. In the middle of last
month, in response to a few more complaints about ads that were
auto-playing, […]
The post Don’t like annoying ads on Retraction Watch? Here’s how to keep
them turned off appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Unreliable” data suffocates third paper for Duke pulmonary team
Once again, a team of Duke University scientists has retracted a paper,
this time due to “unreliable” figure data. With co-authors at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, the Duke team has withdrawn a paper from
the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology after
concern about data in three figures led them to repeat one of their main
experiments. They […]
The post “Unreliable” data suffocates third paper for Duke pulmonary team
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Stress tests in psychology; writing advice to ignore; how to have fun in the lab
This week at Retraction Watch featured a sexist peer review seen around the
world, and settlement of the malpractice case against Duke and Anil Potti.
Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Just 39% of psychology studies passed
a reproducibility test, but there are some nuances, Nature News reports.
Scientists, want your work cited? Forget all that […]
The post Weekend reads: Stress tests in psychology; writing advice to
ignore; how to have fun in the lab appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Malpractice case against Duke, Anil Potti settled
A lawsuit filed in October 2011 against Duke University and Anil Potti, who
has retracted 11 papers and corrected a number of others amidst
investigation into his work, has been settled, Retraction Watch has
learned. Potti resigned from Duke in 2010 following questions about his
work, and revelations that he had lied on grant applications […]
The post Malpractice case against Duke, Anil Potti settled appeared first
on Retraction Watch.
Editor of Medical Journal of Australia fired after criticizing decision to outsource to Elsevier
Public health expert Stephen Leeder has been ousted as editor of
Australia’s top medical journal after he questioned the decision to
outsource the journal’s production and other tasks to publishing giant
Elsevier. Leeder, emeritus professor at the University of Sydney, told the
Medical Observer he was asked to leave when he and the journal’s publisher,
[…]
The post Editor of Medical Journal of Australia fired after criticizing
decision to outsource to Elsevier appeared first on Retraction Watch.
NIH neuroscientist loses second paper, again the result of first author misconduct
Stanley Rapoport, a neuroscientist in the National Institute on Aging,
isn’t having a lot of luck with his first authors. One committed misconduct
and cost him a paper in the journal Age last year, and now he’s lost
another paper with a different first author, but for the exact same reason.
The latest paper, in […]
The post NIH neuroscientist loses second paper, again the result of first
author misconduct appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Misconduct earns researcher a five-year ban on federal funding
A University of Minnesota former chemistry graduate student has been
banned from receiving federal funding for five years based on “a
preponderance of the evidence that the Respondent intentionally and
knowingly engaged in research misconduct.” Venkata J. Reddy appears to have
manipulated findings in one R01 grant application. In recent years, bans
are less common than having […]
The post Misconduct earns researcher a five-year ban on federal funding
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Drug study pulled after researchers admit altering trial protocol
The Egyptian Journal of Anaesthesia is retracting a 2014 paper by a pair of
researchers at Cairo University who appear to have tinkered with their
protocol after having received ethics approval. The paper, titled “Can
Sugammadex improve the reversal profile of Atracurium under Sevoflurane
anesthesia?” was written by Heba Ismail Ahmed Nagy and Hany Wafik […]
The post Drug study pulled after researchers admit altering trial protocol
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
It’s a man’s world — for one peer reviewer, at least
We’ve written quite a lot about the perks and pitfalls of the peer review
system, but one thing we never really touched on was the risk that a
reviewer might be … well, not to put too fine a point on it: a dope. But
Fiona Ingleby can speak to that. Ingleby, a postdoc in […]
The post It’s a man’s world — for one peer reviewer, at least appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Chem paper fails to catalyze when wrong files are “inadvertently used”
Three chemists at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in India have
retracted a paper from the Journal of Organic Chemistry because the
“incorrect files were inadvertently used.” The article, “Room-Temperature
Cu(II)-Catalyzed Chemo- and Regioselective Ortho-Nitration of Arenes via
C–H Functionalization,” described a protocol to perform nitration — the
addition of nitro groups onto an organic compound […]
The post Chem paper fails to catalyze when wrong files are “inadvertently
used” appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Reporting errors sink chem paper on liquid-liquid equilibrium
A team of chemists at Hunan University and Zhejiang Shuyang Chemical
Company in China have retracted a paper from the Journal of Chemical &
Engineering Data after “inconsistencies with the literature” led them to
discover “errors” in the way the data were reported. According to the
corresponding author Qinbo Wang, in December 2014, Robert Chirico, an
associate editor at […]
The post Reporting errors sink chem paper on liquid-liquid equilibrium
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Snail egg article retracted for fishing for material from six other papers
The first author of a review article on extracting pharmacological
compounds from marine organisms, published in the Asian Pacific Journal of
Tropical Biomedicine, has retracted it due to plagiarism. There were also
some authorship issues, according to the retraction notice for the paper,
which absolves the last author, based at Pondicherry University in India,
from […]
The post Snail egg article retracted for fishing for material from six
other papers appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Chinese medical case study erased after guardian consent withdrawn
The editor of the Journal of Medical Case Reports, a BioMed Central title,
has retracted and removed a case study of a novel surgical treatment after
the patient’s legal guardian withdrew consent post-publication. The paper,
“Novel two-stage surgical treatment for Cantrell syndrome complicated by
severe pulmonary hypertension: a case report,” describes the treatment of a
[…]
The post Chinese medical case study erased after guardian consent withdrawn
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Former Florida ob-gyn prof notches eighth retraction
Nasser Chegini, the former University of Florida professor currently under
investigation by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), has now had eight
papers retracted. The eighth paper, in the journal Reproductive Biology and
Endocrinology, is about the effect of a compound used during fertility
treatments on Smads, signaling molecules that carry messages from TGF-beta
receptors […]
The post Former Florida ob-gyn prof notches eighth retraction appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Retraction Watch is hiring!
Since becoming our intern in June of last year, and then our first-ever
staff writer in October, Cat Ferguson has written more than 200 posts,
breaking news left and right. But as we noted on Twitter the other day with
not a small degree of sadness, Cat has left Retraction Watch for a great
gig […]
The post Retraction Watch is hiring! appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Trove of VA reports reveals research misconduct, medical malpractice
Last week, the Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General released eight
years of reports investigating allegations of nefarious behavior at VA
hospitals and institutions around the country, ranging from mistreating a
patient in Florida, misspending grant money in New York, and conducting
unauthorized research in Iowa. In one report, a researcher with a foreign
medical […]
The post Trove of VA reports reveals research misconduct, medical
malpractice appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Faith-based peer review; lab bloopers; post-publication peer review etiquette
The week at Retraction Watch featured a lawsuit over the authorship of a
paper, and a look at when exactly a study should be retracted. Here’s what
was happening elsewhere: “Peer review is faith-, not
evidence-based; ineffective; a lottery; slow; expensive;
wasteful; ineffective; easily abused; biased; doesn’t detect
fraud; irrelevant,” former BMJ editor in chief (and current Center for
Scientific Integrity […]
The post Weekend reads: Faith-based peer review; lab bloopers;
post-publication peer review etiquette appeared first on Retraction Watch.
When should a paper be retracted? A tale from the obesity literature
In our line of work, we see it all — mega-corrections that don’t quite rise
to the level of retraction, letters to the editor that point out seemingly
fatal flaws in papers that remain untouched, and studies retracted for what
seem like minor reasons. It can make you wonder what makes a paper worthy
of […]
The post When should a paper be retracted? A tale from the obesity
literature appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Urology researcher in Iran up to six retractions
A urologist in Iran has lost three papers in BJU International, bringing
his retraction count to a half-dozen. In December 2013, we reported on
three retractions by Mohammad Reza Safarinejad. None of those notices,
about papers related to incontinence and erectile dysfunction, made the
reasons for retraction very clear. After that post ran, Safarinejad told us
[…]
The post Urology researcher in Iran up to six retractions appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Does peer review ferret out the best science? New study tries to answer
Grant reviewers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health are doing a
pretty good job of spotting the best proposals and ranking them
appropriately, according to a new study in Science out today. Danielle Li
at Harvard and Leila Agha at Boston University found that grant proposals
that earn good scores lead to research that […]
The post Does peer review ferret out the best science? New study tries to
answer appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Data theft, bad authors list, and hidden funding sink mol bio paper
A Chinese researcher has lost a paper after the journal discovered he
published others’ research without permission and lied about the grant
funding he used for the work. Yihang Shen published a paper using his PhD
research on the molecular biology of fetal rodent livers earlier this year
in DNA and Cell Biology. Unfortunately, he didn’t have permission to […]
The post Data theft, bad authors list, and hidden funding sink mol bio paper
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Author from China blames translation company for plagiarism in retracted vascular paper
Do we need a “throwing vendors under the bus” category here at Retraction
Watch? Earlier this year, we reported on the retraction of a paper because
of sloppy work by an outside lab. Now, we have the story of a retraction
for “negligence” by a translator. Specifically, the author says the
passages shared between the […]
The post Author from China blames translation company for plagiarism in
retracted vascular paper appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Skeleton crew’s second paper broken over methodology issues; more retractions to appear
Bone researcher Olga Panagiotopoulou of the University of Queensland has
lost a second paper over “errors in the validation protocol and data.” The
retracted paper in the Journal of Biomechanics, about primate jaws, was
subject to an expression of concern in May 2014 November 2013, one of
two Panagiotopoulou’s group issued last year over methodological problems.
The other […]
The post Skeleton crew’s second paper broken over methodology issues; more
retractions to appear appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Bielawski and Wiggins retraction count grows to six
A group of chemists whose work was investigated by the University of
Texas-Austin has had another paper retracted, this one of a Chemical
Science study previously subjected to an Expression of Concern. That makes
six retractions for Christopher Bielawski and Kelly Wiggins. Here’s the
notice for “Homonuclear bond activation using a stable
N,N′-diamidocarbene”, signed by […]
The post Bielawski and Wiggins retraction count grows to six appeared first
on Retraction Watch.
Authorship issues spell retraction for breast cancer paper
The corresponding author of a 2014 paper in the Indian Journal of Medical
and Paediatric Oncology has retracted the article because he was a bit too
generous with his list of coauthors. The article, “Outcome of neoadjuvant
chemotherapy in locally advanced breast cancer: A tertiary care centre
experience,” reviewed medical records from a local population […]
The post Authorship issues spell retraction for breast cancer paper
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Biology team with two retractions now correcting references to nixed papers
A team of biologists that retracted two papers after being “unable to
replicate some of the results obtained by the first author of the paper”
has now issued a correction to fix references to the two sunk publications.
The corrected paper is a review in the Journal of Virology — known there as
a Gem — […]
The post Biology team with two retractions now correcting references to
nixed papers appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Beleaguered Förster turns down prestigious professorship, citing personal toll
Jens Förster, a social scientist accused of research misconduct, has turned
down a highly coveted — and well-endowed — professorship from the Alexander
von Humboldt Foundation. Foster explained his decision to decline the 5
million Euro award in a post on his personal website: Some time ago, I
decided to return the Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship, […]
The post Beleaguered Förster turns down prestigious professorship, citing
personal toll appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Former postdoc suing lab head for publishing paper he says he wrote, without his name
A pharmaceutical researcher is suing his postdoctoral advisor and former
business partner, accusing him of publishing a paper in PLoS Biology they
wrote together, and removing him as an author. According to the complaint,
Andrew Mallon and John Marshall co-founded a company, Ardane Therapeutic,
to commercialize a potential therapy that Mallon discovered for Angelman
Sydrome, a […]
The post Former postdoc suing lab head for publishing paper he says he
wrote, without his name appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Weekend reads: Aussie scientists bend rules; how to fix peer review once and for all; crazy structure alert
The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of 11 papers by a
controversial researcher in Italy, and a look at the controversy over lead
in the water supply. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: “How Australian
scientists are bending the rules to get research funding.” “[S]ome current
attempts to upgrade or otherwise modify the peer-review […]
The post Weekend reads: Aussie scientists bend rules; how to fix peer
review once and for all; crazy structure alert appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Cancer team loses two papers for image manipulation
A team spread across multiple institutions in China and McGill University
in Canada has retracted two cancer papers over “inaccurate and
inappropriately processed Western Blots.” Some of the figures were also
reused between the two articles, both in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta
General Subjects. The articles both tested the cancer-fighting properties
of a derivative of […]
The post Cancer team loses two papers for image manipulation appeared first
on Retraction Watch.
Citation manipulation the last straw for modified rice straw paper
The Journal of Nanomaterials has retracted a paper on modified rice
straw over citation manipulation. Rice straw, which makes up nearly half of
the biomass in rice plants, is generally considered agricultural waste.
However, in recent years scientists have discovered ways to modify the raw
material to make it capable of absorbing heavy metal ions, making it […]
The post Citation manipulation the last straw for modified rice straw paper
appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Controversial Italian scientist loses 11 papers from journal he used to edit
Alberto Carpinteri is something of a Renaissance man. Along with
championing a highly controversial form of energy generation called
“piezonuclear fission,” which involves crushing rocks, the engineer has
argued that the Shroud of Turin really is as old as Jesus, but carbon
dating was thrown off by an earthquake. Not everyone agrees with his ideas:
In […]
The post Controversial Italian scientist loses 11 papers from journal he
used to edit appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Teflon toxicity paper fails to stick
An advanced online paper on prenatal toxicity of perfluorooctanoic acid
(PFOA), an industrial chemical used to make waterproof coatings and Teflon,
is being retracted due to “some minor errors.” High blood levels of PFOA
have been tied to kidney disease in humans, as well as several cancers in
animal models. The majority of the U.S. […]
The post Teflon toxicity paper fails to stick appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Nature retracts epigenetics paper by author who lost two Science papers last year
Frank Sauer, formerly of the University of California, Riverside, has had a
2002 letter on epigenetics retracted from Nature due to “inappropriate
image manipulation.” Sauer had two papers retracted from Science last year
following a university investigation. Here’s the Nature notice for “Histone
methylation by the Drosophila epigenetic transcriptional regulator Ash1:”
The authors and the […]
The post Nature retracts epigenetics paper by author who lost two Science
papers last year appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Gynecologic cancer researcher earns eighth retraction
Noriyuki Takai, a gynecologic cancer researcher in Japan, has notched one
more retraction — bringing the total to eight — due to figures that were
“processed inappropriately” and did “not accurately report the original
data.” According to the notice, Takai alone put the figures together in the
2006 Oncology paper, which tested a histone deacetylase […]
The post Gynecologic cancer researcher earns eighth retraction appeared
first on Retraction Watch.
Expression of concern opens floodgates of controversy over lead in water supply
An expression of concern has been published on a paper that taps into a
decades-long fight over how to remove lead from the water supply. The paper
in question, published in the Journal American Water Works Association,
supports the safety of a common but frequently criticized way of
incrementally removing lead pipes. The expression of concern came after
years of […]
The post Expression of concern opens floodgates of controversy over lead in
water supply appeared first on Retraction Watch.
“Super-surgeon” Macchiarini not guilty of misconduct, per one Karolinska investigation
Surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who is under investigation for
allegedly downplaying dangers of an experimental surgery, has been cleared
of some misconduct allegations by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.
Macchiarini, a thoracic surgeon, has made headlines for repairing damaged
airways using tracheas from cadavers and even synthetic tracheas, both
treated with the patients’ own stem cells to […]
The post “Super-surgeon” Macchiarini not guilty of misconduct, per one
Karolinska investigation appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Molecular mixup burns chemistry paper
Chemists at Lanzhou University in China did the right thing last month,
retracting a paper in Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis because of issues with
a reactant that could only be corrected by changing “all the text and
quantities.” When the scientists were adding what was labeled Reactant 1 to
the mix, they believed it was […]
The post Molecular mixup burns chemistry paper appeared first on Retraction
Watch.
Bigfoot paper corrected because it doesn’t exist — the author’s institution, that is
A paper on the genetics of mythical creatures — yeti and bigfoot — is being
corrected after the journal discovered the first author, Bryan Sykes,
listed a mythical institution. The Proceedings of the Royal Society B
paper, “Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and
other anomalous primates,” examined 30 samples from “museum […]
The post Bigfoot paper corrected because it doesn’t exist — the author’s
institution, that is appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Investigations into Voinnet’s work announced; critic publishes original peer review
The story about Olivier Voinnet, a high-profile plant biologist whose work
has fallen under scrutiny, continues to build momentum. Late last week,
Voinnet’s employer and one of his funders announced they were investigating
his work, and one of the peer reviewers of a soon-to-be-retracted paper has
made her original report public. Here’s the statement from […]
The post Investigations into Voinnet’s work announced; critic publishes
original peer review appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Retraction notice for steel manufacturing paper leaves much to the imagination
Reading is hard and takes a long time, so it’s nice that the Iron and Steel
Institute of Japan didn’t give us too much work to do with this 12 word
retraction. Journal ISIJ International minced no words about why the 2014
paper on steel manufacturing was withdrawn, because there were no words.
Here’s the notice for […]
The post Retraction notice for steel manufacturing paper leaves much to the
imagination appeared first on Retraction Watch.
Lawsuit involving PubPeer unmasks commenter as pseudonymous whistleblower Clare Francis
An attorney for Fazlul Sarkar, the Wayne State University researcher who claims he lost a job offer because of comments about his research on PubPeer, has asked a judge to reconsider last month’s decision not to release information about the site’s anonymous commenters. As a consequence, the brief in support of that motion identifies a […] The post Lawsuit involving PubPeer unmasks commenter as pseudonymous whistleblower Clare Francis appRelated articles
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