In December 2015, a U.S. government watchdog said a researcher named Girija Dasmahapatra had faked data in 11 papers. Two of those papers were retracted by October 2016.
And then, until this year, nothing happened.
Since February, four journals have retracted seven of Dasmahapatra’s papers, and two journals have corrected two others. That completes the list of 11 that the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) said included false data.
But since the ORI report, the nine papers retracted or corrected this year have been cited more than 80 times. That’s more than 80 papers that relied, at least in some small part, on faked studies in Blood, Cancer Biology & Therapy, Leukemia Research, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, Molecular Pharmacology, and the British Journal of Haematology.
As we noted in 2016, all 11 papers mentioned in the ORI report list Steven Grant as last author, while Paul Dent is a co-author of nine of these studies. Both have retractions or corrections that do not involve Dasmahapatra.
We’ve written about delays like this before, and one publisher issued an apology last year. We understand that journals often want to do their own analysis, and can fear legal threats if they act rashly.
But it’s never been clear why it should take years for journals to act after findings from a body like the ORI, nor why they don’t use expressions of concern in the meantime.
Like Retraction Watch? You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, add us to your RSS reader, sign up for an email every time there’s a new post (look for the “follow” button at the lower right part of your screen), or subscribe to our daily digest. If you find a retraction that’s not in our database, you can let us know here. For comments or feedback, email us at [email protected].
“But since the ORI report, the nine papers retracted or corrected this year have been cited more than 80 times.”
To address this problem, editors must use the “Expression of Concern” tool on a more regular basis. It is not in any way demeaning to the editors if they are concerned with a paper. And once the EoC is in place, they can take the time they need to investigate thoroughly.
I am not surprised by the fact that many scientific journals apparently are not interested in following up retraction of fraudulent work. When profit is more important than the science, you get this situation.
In the case of the journals Cancer Biology & Therapy and Leukemia Research, the friends from VCU act as editors or editorial board members. Paul Dent is deputy editor-in-chief of Cancer Biology & Therapy and Steven Grant and Paul B. Fisher are associated editor and member of the editorial board, respectively. Steven Grant is also member of the editorial board of Leukemia Research.
2019 Editor’s Note for:
Mol Cancer Ther. 2014 Oct;13(10):2384-98. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-14-0172. Epub 2014 Aug 7.
Regulation of OSU-03012 toxicity by ER stress proteins and ER stress-inducing drugs.
Booth L1, Roberts JL1, Cruickshanks N1, Grant S2, Poklepovic A2, Dent P3.
Author information
1
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
2
Department of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
3
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. [email protected]
Pubpeer comment.
https://pubpeer.com/publications/4D08D18DC8C2A8BAA3AC076C58FA07#2
2019 Editor’s Note.
https://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/18/9/1669
The editors are publishing this note to alert readers to a concern about this article (1). The authors informed the journal that there was a mistake in Fig. 4D. Specifically, the XBP-1 and GAPDH knock down panel for GBM6 was duplicated and mislabeled for GBM5. After a review of the materials, the authors’ institution determined the duplication to be an unintentional error.
Reference
1.↵Booth L, Roberts JL, Cruickshanks N, Grant S, Poklepovic A, Dent P. Regulation of OSU-03012 toxicity by ER stress proteins and ER stress-inducing drugs. Mol Cancer Ther 2014;13:2384–98.