When we first wrote about Naoki Mori last December, one question we had was why Infection and Immunity, the journal that got the ball rolling in this case, wasn’t retracting a 1999 article by the serial manipulator. Well, it has.
The August issue of the journal, a publication of the American Society of Microbiology — which levied a 10-year ban on Mori for his misdeeds — contains the following retraction notice:
Volume 67, no. 8, p. 3872–3878, 1999. The publisher hereby retracts the above article due to evidence of data manipulation, a clear violation of ASM’s ethical standards. The first author, Naoki Mori, takes full responsibility for this matter, states that none of the coauthors were involved in or aware of these events, and apologizes for any inconvenience caused.
The paper has been published cited 32 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.
We think that makes 21 retractions for Mori, who claimed to have successfully lobbied the University of the Ryukyus to give him back the job he lost as a result of the scandal, according to a ScienceInsider report earlier this year. However, a statement from school announcing the move that was supposed be released in the spring does not appear to have materialized.
ScienceInsider also reported last month that one of Mori’s unfortunate co-authors was his own university president, Teruo Iwamasa. The two scientists shared a 2007 article in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, “Downregulation of citrin, a mitochondrial AGC, is associated with apoptosis of hepatocytes.”
Hat tip: Commenter John Smith
“published 32 times”
*snigger*
Thanks, that was obviously our error. We’ve corrected it.
“The paper has been published 32 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.”
A paper published 32 times should really be retracted 😉
nice typo!
Thanks, as noted above, someone else pointed that out and we’ve corrected it.