Alirio Melendez, the former National University of Singapore researcher who has already retracted two papers in the midst of an investigation into about 70 of his publications, has had a third retracted a third.
Here’s the notice from the Journal of Cellular Physiology:
The following article from Journal of Cellular Physiology, ‘Sphingosine kinase 1 regulates pro-inflammatory responses triggered by TNFa in primary human monocytes’ by Liang Zhi, Bernard P. Leung and Alirio J. Melendez, published online on March 30, 2006, in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), and in Volume 208, pp. 109–115, has been retracted by the journal Editor in Chief, Dr. Gary S. Stein, and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The retraction has been made due to concern regarding duplication of Figure 2, panel A, in Journal of Cellular Physiology with Figure 2, panel A, in the following article: ‘Antisense Knockdown of Sphingosine Kinase 1 in Human Macrophages Inhibits C5a Receptor-Dependent Signal Transduction, Ca2þSignals, Enzyme Release, Cytokine Production, and Chemotaxis’ by Alirio J. Melendez and Farazeela Bte Mohd Ibrahim, Journal of Immunology, Volume 173, pp. 1596–1603.
The paper has been cited 41 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.
Hat tip: Clare Francis
Three down, sixty-seven to go.
Retraction Index!!
A correction – Alirio Melendez has NOT retracted the article but “has been retracted by the journal Editor in Chief, Dr. Gary S. Stein, and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.”
Fixed, thanks.
Will Elsevier do the right thing for 200 % duplication?
It will be most interesting to see whether Elsevier, for example, will do the same – i.e. the right thing – regarding a publication in Gaceta Sanitaria 2010; 24(Suppl 1):56–61 entitled “Welfare state, labour market inequalities and health. In a global context: An integrated framework. SESPAS report 2010”.
In this article there is duplication of not one, but TWO figures which are identical to earlier publication (September 2007) of World Health Organization entitled “Employment Conditions and Health Inequalities” available here: http://www.who.int/social_determinants/resources/articles/emconet_who_report.pdf
Fig. 1. Macro-level framework and policy entry points
on p. 57 from the above mentioned paper in Gaceta Sanitaria is identical to
Figure 13. Policy entry points in the macro-theoretical framework
on p. 109 from “Employment Conditions and Health Inequalities” in the WHO Report.
Fig. 2. Micro-level framework and policy entry points
on p. 58 from the above mentioned paper in Gaceta Sanitaria is identical to
Figure 14. Policy entry points in the micro-theoretical framework
on p. 109 from “Employment Conditions and Health Inequalities” in the WHO Report.
As you can notice, the titles of the figures are paraphrased by reshuffling the words in it, obviously not by an “honest mistake”, but to avoid detection by plagiarism software.
Is this coincidence? I does make one wonder if the whole field has problems.
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/63366/pdf
Retraction: Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor-2 deficiency leads to inhibition of macrophage proinflammatory activities and atherosclerosis in apoE-deficient mice.
Fei Wang, Yasuo Okamoto, Isao Inoki, Kazuaki Yoshioka, Wa Du, Xun Qi, Noriko Takuwa, Koichi Gonda, Yasuhiko Yamamoto, Ryunosuke Ohkawa, Takumi Nishiuchi, Naotoshi Sugimoto, Yutaka Yatomi, Kunitoshi Mitsumori, Masahide Asano, Makoto Kinoshita, and Yoh Takuwa.
Original citation: J Clin Invest. 2010;120(11):3979–3995. doi:10.1172/JCI42315.
Citation for this retraction: J Clin Invest. 2012;122(3):1131. doi:10.1172/JCI63366.
All authors agree to retract the above article due to multiple use of the same images or manipulation of data in Figures 1A, 2D, 5C, 6B, 6C, and 8A and Supplemental Figure 8E. They are also not able to provide some of the raw data that are used in Figures 2A, 2B, 5, 6, 7C, 8, and 9C, Supplemental Tables 1–4, and Supplemental Figures 2C, 3, 4, 5, 7C, 8A–8C, 8E, 8F, 10A, and 10B. The first author, Fei Wang,
has admitted his sole responsibility in altering figures. The authors apologize and deeply regret the impact of this action. However, the authors stand behind data showing that genetic deletion of S1pr2 or pharmacological S1PR2 inhibition alleviates atherosclerosis in Apoe–/– mice fed a high-cholesterol diet.
It is on the same topic. Different authors. Similar methodology.