Materials journal breaks three papers from the same author

Metals and Materials International has retracted three papers from one author, due to suspicions of plagiarism and authorship issues.

The three papers have one thing in common — the same lead author, Reza Haghayeghi from the Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran.

The retraction notices — all released in March, 2016 — lead with the following:

This article has been retracted at the request of the editorial board of Metals and Materials International. The article was examined following the COPE guidelines with regard to suspected plagiarism in a published manuscript. The article contains figures reproduced from a previously published article with no acknowledgement of the source.

One retracted paper, “Grain Refinement of AA5754 Aluminum Alloy by Ultrasonic Cavitation: Experimental Study and Numerical Simulation,” has been cited twice since it appeared in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters Web of Science.

Its retraction note cites issues with duplication and authorship:

Fig. 3 has been published previously in: An investigation on physical and chemical refinement of aerospace aluminium alloys R. Haghayeghi, P. Kapranos

Mater. Lett. 95 (2013) 121-124

The microstructures in Fig. 3 are reproduced from Fig. 3 (a), (b), (c), while being assigned to different alloys and conditions.

The corresponding author R. Haghayeghi submitted the article without the consent of the two co-authors E. Ezzatneshan and H. Bahai. The co-authors also indicate that they did not have knowledge on the previously published data contributed by R. Haghayeghi.

The next study in question, “Comparison on grain refinement efficiency of peritectic and eutectic alloying elements on pure aluminium,” has been cited once since it was published in 2014.

Its retraction note tells us a bit more about what went wrong:

Fig. 2 (a) and (b) and Fig. 3 are taken from: Revisiting the role of peritectics in grain refinement of Al alloys Feng Wang, Zhilin Liu, Dong Qiu, John A. Taylor, Mark A. Easton, Ming-Xing Zhang Acta Materialia 61 (2013) 360–370

Fig. 2 (a) and (b) are taken from Fig. 9 (a) and (c). In the original source, the figure is related to cooling curves of pure Al and Al- 0.40 wt% V, but in the paper in question it is presented as cooling curves of Al-1.6 wt% Cu and Al-0.18 wt% V

Fig. 3 is taken with slight modification from Fig. 8 (c) and (d). In the original source, the figure is related to SEM results for Al-0.40 wt% V, but in the paper in question it is presented as SEM results for Al-0.18 wt% V

Another retracted 2014 paper, “Investigation on heterogeneous nucleation of MgAl2O4 in Al-Mg alloys,” has not yet been cited.

Here is its retraction note:

The plagiarized articles are:

(A) Criteria of grain refinement induced by ultrasonic melt treatment of aluminum alloys containing Zr and Ti T.V. Atamanenko, D.G. Eskin, L. Zhang, and L. Katgerman Metall. Mater. Trans. A 41A (2010) 2056–2066

(B) Mechanisms of enhanced heterogeneous nucleation during solidification in binary Al–Mg alloys H.-T. Li, Y. Wang, Z. Fan Acta Mater. 60 (2012) 1528–1537

(C) Oxidation of Aluminium Alloy Melts and Inoculation by Oxide Particles Yun Wang, Hu-Tian Li, Zhongyun Fan Trans. Ind. Inst. Met. 65 (2012) 653–661

Fig. 3 (a), (b) are taken from (A) (Fig. 1). Note that in the original source this figure relates to an Al-4% Cu alloy while in the paper in question it is presented as an Al-1% Mg alloy.

Fig. 4 is taken from (B) (Fig. 6, with an almost identical caption, except for the processing time). Fig. 7 is also taken with slight modification from (B) (Fig. 7).

Fig. 5 (a) is taken from (C), (Fig. 10). Fig. 5 (d) is Fig. 11 taken from (C) but rotated 180°. Fig. 9 (a) is (C) Fig. 1 (b).

Co-author Plato Kapranos declined to comment, referring us to Haghayeghi.

In 2013, the journal previously retracted another one of Haghayeghi’s papers, “Microstructural evolution of AA7449 aerospace alloy refined by intensive shearing,” also due to authorship issues. Here is the entire note for the paper, which has been cited three times since it appeared in 2012:

The editorial board of Metals and Materials International has decided to retract this article. The retraction is due to the fact that the same data has been used in this paper as in a previously published paper without indication that the data had been published previously. Originally the authors of the paper were R. Haghayeghi and L. Nastac. Following the request from the second author indicating that he did not contribute to the paper and did not consent to being included in the author list either, the editorial board of Metals and Materials International has decided to remove the name of the second author, L. Nastac from the author list, with the first author, R. Haghayeghi’s consent.

Another of Haghayeghi’s papers, “Numerical and experimental investigation of the grain refinement of liquid metals through cavitation processing,” has been corrected by the journal to reflect a change in its author list. It has been cited six times since it was published in 2013. 

Its correction note, issued this year, reads:

Following the authors’ request, there is a change in the authorship of the article “Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Grain Refinement of Liquid Metals through Cavitation Processing”, in Metals and Materials International, Vol.19 (2013) pp.959-967. The second and third authors clarified that they had no knowledge on the source and use of the data and the figures appeared in the paper, and requested the removal of their name from the author list. The corresponding author agreed the removal of the second and third authors’ name from the author list.

Before correction

R. Haghayeghi¹,*, E. Ezzatneshan², H. Bahai³, and L. Nastac⁴

¹Department of Materials Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

²Sharif University of Technology, Aerospace Engineering Department, Tehran, Iran

³Brunel University, School of Engineering and Design, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, UK

⁴The University of Alabama, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0202, USA

After correction

R. Haghayeghi¹,* and L. Nastac²

¹Department of Materials Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

²The University of Alabama, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0202, USA

We’ve contacted Haghayeghi and Do H. Kim, the editor-in-chief of the journal, and will update the post with anything else we learn.

Hat Tip: Rolf Degen

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