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 … Continue reading What should an ideal retraction notice look like?
Last week, we announced a new partnership with PRE (Peer Review Evaluation) “to improve access to information about retraction policies.” The first step, we and PRE said, was that Retraction Watch would create guidelines for retraction notices, to which PRE’s flagship product, PRE-val, would link. Well, it turns out that great minds think alike, or … Continue reading What should an ideal retraction notice look like? We (and COPE) want your input
A controversial rocket scientist in India earned his fourth retraction in October after an investigation at a physics journal found a core part of his work was “inaccurate and paradoxical.” At issue is a highly technical concept developed by V.R. Sanal Kumar, a professor of aerospace engineering at Amity University in New Delhi. Other scientists … Continue reading Embattled rocket scientist loses paper following Retraction Watch report
Two Dutch researchers were preparing a review of preclinical animal models for hemorrhagic stroke last July when they stumbled across a disturbing pattern in the literature. First, they found many more papers on the topic than the 50 or so they expected based on their experience: more than 600. Also, nearly every study proposed a … Continue reading First-time scientific sleuths prompt nine retractions for neurosurgery group
In October, a South African political scientist published a book on how scholars in Africa can improve their standing in the larger academic world. Three months later, after heated emails from several sources alleging ethics breaches, the publisher retracted the book. The retraction notice, posted Jan. 12, 2024, states that UJ Press retracted and removed … Continue reading Book retraction surfaces long-standing feud between South African academics
An Elsevier journal has retracted seven articles by a prolific data fabricator – three and a half years after the publisher said it would retract 10 of his papers, and five months after the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) threatened the journal with sanctions for the delay. As we previously reported, the Journal of the … Continue reading Exclusive: COPE threatens Elsevier journal with sanctions for ‘clear breakdown’ before seven retractions
A former lecturer in the modern languages department of the University of St Andrews in Scotland committed plagiarism in seven papers published between 2014 and 2022, according to the results of an institutional investigation. The university posted a statement on its website about the outcome of the investigation that did not name the researcher, who … Continue reading University finds former lecturer with two retractions plagiarized in seven publications
Nick Wise had always been “slightly interested” in research integrity and fraud, just from working in science. Then, last July, from following image sleuth Elisabeth Bik on Twitter, he learned about the work of Guillaume Cabanac, Cyril Labbé, and Alexander Magazinov identifying “tortured phrases” in published papers. Such phrases – such as “bosom peril,” meaning … Continue reading Meet a sleuth whose work has resulted in more than 850 retractions
A Springer Nature journal has retracted a 2017 paper on induced brain injuries in piglets over questions about the data – making us wonder if the animals weren’t essentially tortured (if the experiments truly took place) as part of someone’s misconduct. Meanwhile, Springer Nature seems to have wiped its hands clean of the matter involving … Continue reading Penn maintains wall of silence over now-retired prof as retractions mount
On the heels of a high-profile retraction that followed deep investigations by the Science news team, Holden Thorp, the editor in chief of the journal, says it’s time to improve the process of correcting the scientific record. In an editorial published today, Thorp, a former university provost, describes the often time-consuming and frustrating process involving … Continue reading ‘It’s time to devise a more efficient solution’: Science editor in chief wants to change the retraction process