Gravitational fields, silkworm excrement, and “putor” programs: How did this “pure, utter nonsense” get into in a peer-reviewed journal?

Sometimes, a paper comes along that is so revolutionary, it defies description. So rather than try to do justice to a recent paper in Parasitology Research, we’ll reproduce a few paragraphs here:

A certain point between the center of the earth and the center of a certain outer planet is where the gravities of each interact, where their energies are exchanged, and also where numerous other gravities are working. Therefore, matter composed of elements at this point could receive FOGF energy, named “BDong-ta-ra-con-ching,” and in turn more energy will be received by rotation and revolution of the earth. In order to induce this energy into matter, we developed the material remediation installation “BPutor” (Fig. 2), which could force synchronization in MBZ, make MBZ normally receive FOGF energy, and reduce toxicity of MBZ. It consisted of the “BEup-cha” and the “BNap-cha” putor program. The Eup-cha putor program induces energy from the center of the earth, whereas the Nap-cha putor program amplifies numerous weak extraterrestrial energies using natural matter, silkworm. To treat MBZ, the Eup-cha putor program was installed under MBZ and the Nap-cha putor program was installed over MBZ. 

The principle of this Putor installation is briefly explained. As mentioned in the introduction, elements on the earth receive FOGF energy, and thus living organisms comprised of these elements are also expected to receive FOGF energy. We investigated the capacities of FOGF energy reception in various living organisms, and finally we chose the silkworm because it seemed to receive energy almost all day. We raised them, studied their properties every spring and autumn for 15 years, and could obtain the suitable silkworm, named “BHo-ho-nong”, for our purpose. Silkworm excrement was the most appropriate because it was not denatured easily, unlike other parts such as heads, skins, and silk glands that are composed of protein. However, silkworm excrement alone was not enough to remediate the destroyed elements, and therefore we placed the excrement at the top and the bottom of several trees and induced amplification, using the energy reception ability of the trees. The Nap-cha and the Eup-cha putor programs of the material remediation installation Putor were produced using this procedure.

Unfortunately, the paper, originally published on July 21, 2018, no longer receives energy, because it was retracted. Here’s the retraction notice:

This article has been retracted at the request of the Editors-in-Chief and the Publisher. Post publication peer review has found that the conclusions regarding the phenomenon of full-overlapped gravitational field (FOGF) energy are not supported by evidence. In addition, the supplementary file has been removed as it was published in error. All authors agree to this retraction.

One of the paper’s authors, Hak-Je Kim, is allegedly affiliated with The Asia Pacific Earth-Life Environment Remediation Association in Seoul. The only reference we found for that association was in this site, which advertises a “traditional medical clinic.” Sung-Hee Jung, the researcher listed as corresponding author, did not respond to an email requesting comment.

We asked the journal’s editors, Una Ryan of Murdoch University in Australia and Julia Walochnik of the Medical University of Vienna, why it took post-publication peer review to determine that the paper was nonsense. In other words, what exactly were the peer reviewers, editors, and publisher — that’s Springer Nature — doing between March 5, 2018, when the paper was submitted, and July 6, 2018, when it was accepted?

The editors did not respond, but apparently forwarded our email to Springer Nature. A spokesperson for the publisher responded:

In the interests of being fair and following due process, the paper was sent for a post publication peer review, following which all authors agreed to retract the paper as stated in the retraction note.  We treat all correspondence on integrity matters as confidential and cannot comment on details of the peer review process.

We don’t mind saying that we found that response — and the lack of one from the editors — less than satisfying.

‘Pure, utter nonsense’

But perhaps we missed the point of the paper because it was above our heads, sort of like silkworm excrement at the top of a tree. We emailed Philip Moriarty, a professor of physics at the University of Nottingham, for his opinion. He wrote:

That paper has got to be some type of Sokal-esque hoax. Someone is going to come clean in a week’s time…

Moriarty called the paper “pure, utter nonsense.”

It *has* to be a wind-up. 

Moriarty said he “particularly loved this bit:”

The Eup-cha putor program induces energy from the center of the earth, whereas the Nap-cha putor program amplifies numerous weak extraterrestrial energies using natural matter, silkworm.

Springer Nature is not the first publisher to struggle with quality control, however, even if it’s unclear what happened here. More than seven years ago, we wrote about the retraction of a math paper published by an Elseiver journal that “contains no scientific content and was accepted because of an administrative error.” One of the authors of that one can be reached at [email protected]. 

Or not. After all, “‘Published in a peer-reviewed journal’ has long been the indicator of what to trust,” said the former editor in chief of Cell, one of Elsevier’s flagship journals.

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].