The editors of the World Journal of Emergency Surgery have published an Expression of Concern about a paper after they couldn’t verify one of the three case reports in it.
Here’s the notice for “Necrotizing fasciitis: literature review of contemporary strategies for diagnosing and management with three case reports: torso, abdominal wall, upper and lower limbs,” by surgeons from Split and Zagreb, Croatia:
The Editors-in-Chief would like to alert readers that the accuracy of details described in Case III (56 year old male) of this article [1] have been questioned by a reader. Unfortunately, for legal reasons, the authors’ institution has not been able to confirm or refute whether the events reported about the case are accurate. Consequently, readers are advised to interpret the details of Case III with caution.
We contacted one of the editors in chief of the journal for more details, and will update with anything we hear back.
I wonder on what grounds the reader questioned the validity of a case devoid of patient identifiers.
any updates yet? seems strange to cite legal reasons for not confirming the accuracy of a case, no?