Penkowa-Pedersen paper retracted nearly three years after being subjected to Notice of Concern

We have an update on the complicated story of Milena Penkowa and Bente Klarlund Pedersen.

Two papers coauthored by the pair — who have both been found guilty of scientific dishonesty by the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty — have been retracted by the FASEB Journal.

Here’s one notice (both are unfortunately behind a paywall):

The article “Immunohistochemical detection of interleukin-6 in human skeletal muscle fibers following exercise,” by Milena Penkowa, Charlotte Keller, Pernille Keller, Sune Jauffred, and Bente Klarlund Pedersen, published in print as an FJ Express summary in FASEB J. 2003 Nov. 17:2166–2218, doi: 10.1096/fj.03-0311fje, and as a full-length article online at http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2003/11/04/fj.03-0311fje, has been retracted due to a recommendation made by the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (DCSD). According to DCSD, the article “contains image manipulations and [DCSD has] therefore recommended that the authors withdraw these articles from The FASEB Journal.”

The study has been cited 98 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge — which means 29 times since a Notice of Concern was posted about it three years ago. Those citations may be explained in part by the fact that the abstract page did not refer to the Notice of Concern, at least when the latter first went online.

And here’s the other notice:

The article “Interleukin-6 receptor expression in contracting human skeletal muscle: regulating role of IL-6,” by Pernille Keller, Milena Penkowa, Charlotte Keller, Adam Steensberg, Christian P. Fischer, Mercedes Giralt, Juan Hidalgo, and Bente Klarlund Pedersen, published in print as an FJ Express summary in FASEB J. 2005 July 19:1181–1183, doi: 10.1096/fj.04-3278fje, and as a full-length article online at http://www.fasebj.org/content/early/2005/06/29/fj.04-3278fje, has been retracted due to a recommendation made by the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (DCSD). According to DCSD, the article “contains image manipulations and [DCSD has] therefore recommended that the authors withdraw these articles from The FASEB Journal.”

A 2011 retraction from the Journal of Physiology notes that a figure had been copied from the now-retracted FASEB Journal paper. The latter study has been cited 44 times.

Hat tip: Rolf Degen