Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences have retracted a 2014 article after a review unearthed unresolved problems with the study’s control material.
The retracted paper, “Effect of Temperature and Storage Time on Sorbitol Dehydrogenase Activity in Sprague-Dawley Rat Serum and Plasma,” looked to test the durability and stability of sorbitol dehydrogenase, an enzyme used to detect cancerous liver damage in rats.
Here’s the complete retraction notice from Toxicologic Pathology :
The above article has been retracted from publication in the journal. The author cited the following:
During an audit of our control material performance it became evident that our assay control materials did not perform consistently and that there were several times throughout the study the control assay values were outside expected ranges and no action was taken to investigate or rectify the situation. Thus, the assay was not in control and the data could not be reported with absolute confidence.”
Susan Elmore, the journal’s editor-in-chief (and also based at the NIEHS), explained that the authors contacted her with their concerns, and praised the authors’ approach to the situation.
One important thing to note about this case is that the authors came to me about a problem with the assay controls and felt that it would be best to retract the manuscript, repeat the assay with special attention to the controls, and if the original data holds true, then resubmit for publication at a later date. In my opinion this type of honesty and scientific integrity should be applauded. It seems that too often we read about a retraction that was more of a “gotcha” situation that was either due to negligence or outright misconduct. Although potentially embarrassing for the authors of this manuscript, they did absolutely the right thing by reporting their concerns to me and requesting the retraction.
The author cited the following reason for the retraction:
“During an audit of our control material performance it became evident that our assay control materials did not perform consistently and that there were several times throughout the study the control assay values were outside expected ranges and no action was taken to investigate or rectify the situation. Thus, the assay was not in control and the data could not be reported with absolute confidence.”While unfortunate, we were not comfortable reporting the data after discovering that our control data did not perform consistently. Thus, we requested a retraction.”
According to Elmore’s list of publications, she’s collaborated with two of the authors on the retracted paper, Gregory Travlos and Grace Kissling.
A representative of SAGE, the publisher, corroborated this account:
“Effect of Temperature and Storage Time on Sorbitol Dehydrogenase Activity in Sprague-Dawley Rat Serum and Plasman” published in Toxicologic Pathology in October 2014 was retracted at the request of the authors due to inconsistencies with the control materials used in the study. The authors have communicated that their intentions are to repeat the study with special attention to the controls, and resubmit a paper for publication consideration at a later date.
We’ve contacted corresponding author Michelle Cora, and we’ll update the post if she replies.
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