Desalination and Water Treatment has retracted a paper it published in January by a pair of Turkish researchers for “irregularities in the methodology and data management.”
The article, “Molecular simulation of Zn2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, and NH4+ ion-exchange in Clinoptilolite,” investigated how well different natural forms of the zeolite Clinoptilolite remove heavy metals from wastewater. It came from the lab of Mehmet Göktuğ Ahunbay, of Istanbul Technical University, accompanied by first author Barış Demir.
This article has been retracted at the authors’ request due to irregularities in the methodology and data management.
We’re not sure what “irregularities” means in this context — though we have an idea or two — and have emailed Ahunbay for more information. Nor is it clear if other work by the pair will be affected. Demir and Ahunbay were named first runners-up in a 2012 fluid simulation in Pittsburgh and have collaborated on several other studies.
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