A paper on schistosomiasis, a tropical disease spread by parasitic worms that live in freshwater snails, has been pulled because of an “irresolvable authorship dispute.”
Microbiology Australia published the retraction earlier this month in an agreement with the editors and the authors. Unfortunately, the notice doesn’t provide many details and that’s pretty much all we know.
Here’s the notice in full:
Refers to: Kalinna, B., Walduck, A. (2013) Subversion of immunity by schistosomes. Microbiology Australia 34, 137–141. After due consideration, the editors of the journal and the authors of the paper agree that the paper be retracted from Microbiology Australia.
Reason: irresolvable authorship dispute.
The 2013 study, “Subversion of immunity by schistosomes,” explored how schistosomes, the flatworms that spread the disease, manipulate the immune system to exist in the bodies of their hosts. The disease has infected more than 200 million people worldwide and is considered a Neglected Tropical Disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It was authored by Bernd Kalinna of the The University of Melbourne and Anna Walduck at RMIT University.
We’ve contacted both Kalinna, Walduck and the journal’s editor-in-chief, Ian Macreadie (also based at RMIT). We’ll add their response if they reply.
Hat tip: Rolf Degen
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