A pharmaceutical researcher has received his fourth and fifth retractions for duplicating papers.
Last we saw Giuseppe Derosa on this blog, he was notching retractions after publishing results from the same clinical trial in six different papers; as part of that fallout, a journal has pulled a fourth paper associated with the trial.
Here’s the note for “Effects of an olmesartan/amlodipine fixed dose on blood pressure control, some adipocytokines and interleukins levels compared with olmesartan or amlodipine monotherapies,” which has been cited twice, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge:
The above article, published online on 5 December 2012 on Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) and in Volume 38, pp. 48–55, has been retracted by agreement of the journal Editor in Chief, A. Li Wan Po, and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The article has been retracted due to unattributed overlap with similar publications in six separate Journals. The six publications are as follows:
- Derosa G et al. Olmesartan/amlodipine combination versus olmesartan or amlodipine monotherapies on blood pressure and insulin resistance in a sample of hypertensive patients. Clin Exp Hypertens, 2013;35:301–307.
- Derosa G et al. Effects of an olmesartan/amlodipine fixed dose on blood pressure control, some adipocytokines and interleukins levels compared with olmesartan or amlodipine monotherapies. J Clin Pharm Ther, 2013;38:48–55.
- Derosa G et al. Variation of some inflammatory markers in hypertensive patients after 1 year of olmesartan/amlodipine single-pill combination compared with olmesartan or amlodipine monotherapies. J Am Soc Hypertens, 2013;7:32–39.
- Derosa G et al. Evaluation of safety and efficacy of a fixed olmesartan/amlodipine combination therapy compared to single monotherapies. Expert Opin Drug Saf, 2013;12:621–629.
- Derosa G et al. Different aspects of sartan + calcium antagonist association compared to the single therapy on inflammation and metabolic parameters in hypertensive patients. Inflammation, 2014;37:154–162.
- Derosa G et al. Results from a 12 months, randomized, clinical trial comparing an olmesartan/amlodipine single pill combination to olmesartan and amlodipine monotherapies on blood pressure and inflammation. Eur J Pharm Sci, 2014;51:26–33.
Clearly, Derosa doesn’t see eye to eye with journal editors on publishing, as another journal is also pulling one of his papers (Derosa’s fifth retraction) for publishing the results elsewhere. This study appears unrelated to the split clinical trial.
In our previous story about the split trial, Derosa and his colleagues defended their actions, arguing the papers were decidedly different; in the retraction note for the latest paper, the journal cites our coverage, calling Derosa’s defense of the actions “alarming.”
“Effects of One Year Treatment of Sibutramine on Insulin Resistance Parameters in Type 2 Diabetic Patients,” published in Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been cited five times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.
The retraction note appears in the form of a comment on the paper from the Editor in Chief of the journal:
After a thorough investigation, our editorial team has decided to retract an article published by Giuseppe Derosa, Pamela Maffioli, Ilaria Ferrari, Ilaria Palumbo, Sabrina Randazzo, Angela D’Angelo, Arrigo and FG Cicero (J Pharm Pharm Sci 13(3) 378 – 390, 2010). We retracted the article as the data, with minor differences, were later published elsewhere (Derosa et al J Clin Pharm Ther 36:592-602, 2011). Our action followed many other retraction of articles by these authors (read https://retractionwatch.com/category/by-subject/clinical-study-retractions/cardiology-retractions/page/2/). It is alarming that, in defending their action, the principal author (G. Derosa) sees nothing wrong with this serious breach of publication ethics.
We asked editor in chief Fakhreddin Jamali why the journal retracted the original version of a paper that was later duplicated elsewhere. He told us:
The authors had sent the two manuscripts almost at the same time.
We asked Alain Li Wan Po, the editor in chief of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics (home of Derosa’s 4th retraction) if the journal had considered retracting the later version of the paper:
Yes we are looking into this and a number of others.
We also reached out to Derosa for comment. We’ll update this post with anything else we learn.
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