Search Results for: whistle

How the Karolinska protected Paolo Macchiarini — and whistleblowers paid the price

Retraction Watch readers may recall the story of Paolo Macchiarini, about whom we first wrote in 2012 before he became the subject of international scrutiny — and who has now been sentenced to prison. We are pleased to present an excerpt about the Macchiarini case from The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of … Continue reading How the Karolinska protected Paolo Macchiarini — and whistleblowers paid the price

Exclusive: Whistleblower fired after raising concerns about journal articles on LinkedIn

A business school in Pakistan has fired a marketing professor after finding he had “damaged the repute” of the university and its scholarly journal, Retraction Watch has learned.  In a LinkedIn post, Muhammad Mohsin Butt, the now-fired professor, shared a picture of the table of contents of a 2015 issue of Business Review, published by … Continue reading Exclusive: Whistleblower fired after raising concerns about journal articles on LinkedIn

Weekend reads: Death penalty for prof who killed whistleblower; psychiatry dept. shakeup after suicide in clinical trial; how scientific communication became highly profitable

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Retraction Watch turned 13 on Thursday. The week also featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to nearly 350. There are now 42,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in Edifix, EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains 200 titles. … Continue reading Weekend reads: Death penalty for prof who killed whistleblower; psychiatry dept. shakeup after suicide in clinical trial; how scientific communication became highly profitable

Guest post: When whistleblowers need lawyers

In my prior career as an investigative science journalist and now as a whistleblower lawyer, I’ve seen institutions react to allegations of scientific fraud in two ways.  The first could be called “Investigate and Disclose.” This strategy was exemplified by Bell Laboratories’ 2002 investigation of allegations that Jan Hendrik Schön, a member of the technical … Continue reading Guest post: When whistleblowers need lawyers

Weekend reads: Drug company loses defamation suit against journal; Canada a whistleblower wasteland?; UT-Austin can revoke degrees after all

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to more than 300. There are more than 39,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions … Continue reading Weekend reads: Drug company loses defamation suit against journal; Canada a whistleblower wasteland?; UT-Austin can revoke degrees after all

Weekend reads: A whistleblower speaks; an ecologist’s suspension is questioned; ‘massive plagiarism’ allegations

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to more than 300. There are nearly 39,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions lately — … Continue reading Weekend reads: A whistleblower speaks; an ecologist’s suspension is questioned; ‘massive plagiarism’ allegations

Weekend reads: A whistleblower finds possible misconduct — again; embracing failure; radical transparency for journals

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 268. There are more than 36,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most … Continue reading Weekend reads: A whistleblower finds possible misconduct — again; embracing failure; radical transparency for journals

Weekend reads: Whistleblowers win a victory; a look at COVID-19 retractions; journals as sewage treatment plants

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Paper by gene therapy Zolgensma developer retracted because of discrepancies in mouse survival rates Med school vice dean says he’s correcting paper amid negative misconduct inquiry A grad student finds a ‘typo’ in a psychedelic … Continue reading Weekend reads: Whistleblowers win a victory; a look at COVID-19 retractions; journals as sewage treatment plants

An editor on why he ignores anonymous whistleblowers – and why authors are free to publish ‘bullshit and fiction’

Just over a decade ago, in the second year of Retraction Watch’s existence, we wrote a column in the now-defunct Lab Times urging journal editors to stop ignoring complaints from anonymous whistleblowers. The Committee on Publication Ethics didn’t think anonymity was a problem as long as the complaints were evidence-based, so why should editors?  And … Continue reading An editor on why he ignores anonymous whistleblowers – and why authors are free to publish ‘bullshit and fiction’

Former Tufts grad student settles lawsuit alleging retaliation for whistleblowing

A former veterinary student at Tufts University has settled a $1 million lawsuit alleging that she was punished for claiming that her mentor at the school falsified data in a 2014 article.  In 2019, Kristy Meadows sued Tufts and two faculty members, Elizabeth Byrnes and Dean Joyce Knoll, whom she said retaliated against her for … Continue reading Former Tufts grad student settles lawsuit alleging retaliation for whistleblowing