A group of researchers in China has lost a paper on the human microbiome in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology for cannibalizing much of it from previously published work by other scientists.
The article, titled “Human gut microbiota: dysbiosis and manipulation,” appeared on Sept. 27, 2012, and was written by a team from the Beijing Genomics Institute-Shenzhen. It has been cited just once, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge, by another paper in the same journal.
According to the retraction notice:
The authors and the journal wish to retract the 27 September 2012 article cited above. Based on information discovered after publication and reported to the journal in November 2013, this article was found to contain sections that were taken verbatim from other sources without giving proper reference to the source and without identifying the citation as a word-by-word citation from that source. The authors agree with retraction of the article and apologize to the readers, reviewers, and editors of Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology.
Now, we’re not sure this played a role, but the notes on the paper show that it was received on Aug. 30 and accepted on Sept. 7. With a pub date 20 days later, that seems like ample time to have screened a manuscript for verbatim text. We’re guessing that didn’t happen in this case. Because had it occurred, the editors might have caught echoes in these two passages:
From the retracted paper:
The human gut harbors diverse microbes that play a fundamental role in the health of their host.
And from this March 2012 paper in Cell — which is not cited in the retracted article:
The human gut harbors diverse microbes that play a fundamental role in the well-being of their host.
Safe to assume that this isn’t the only instance of easily-identified copying.
The retraction notice states “…this article was found to contain sections that were taken verbatim from other sources without giving proper reference to the source and without identifying the citation as a word-by-word citation from that source.” I wonder, would the journal have found the paper acceptable for publicaiton if the misappropriated material had been properly placed in quotation and cited?
Thanks! My private practice focuses on integrative immunology- practice is largely based on microbiological research focusing on this topic. I’m constantly writing on and citing gut flora research- would hate to ever source plagiarized material in my articles. Regularly reference your blog to stay updated since discovering the post about WordPress “defending” you guys. Keep it up!