Weekend reads: A museum of scientific misconduct?; authorship misconduct; uproar over renamed phyla

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance.

The week at Retraction Watch featured:

• ‘This is really ridiculous’: An author admitted plagiarism. His supervisor asked for a retraction. The publisher said, “nah.”
• University of Rochester cancer researchers included ‘incorrect images’ in 13 papers, committee finds
• Cancer journal with hefty retraction record retracts another 15
• Authors unhappy as “battlefield acupuncture” paper earns an expression of concern
• Paper on ‘language reclamation’ and decolonization plagiarized from eight papers, journal acknowledges

Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 206. There are now more than 32,000 retractions in our database — which now powers retraction alerts in EndNote, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions lately — or our list of top 10 most highly cited retracted papers?

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

• “[A]n idea for a Museum of Scholarly Misconduct.”
• “The vexing but persistent problem of authorship misconduct in research.”
• “The names that microbiologists had been using to that point were rendered out of date, creating a disconnect between all previous research and upcoming discoveries.”
• What are the lessons of the Theranos case? And: Holmes’ peer-reviewed paper.
• “How fake science is infiltrating scientific journals.” RW readers will find many of the anecdotes familiar.
• “There should be far more [retractions], and anyone who thinks that’s controversial hasn’t been paying attention.”
• A researcher has earned a one-year ban on funding from the German Research Foundation for misconduct.
• “Chemistry textbooks still portray men as scientists while women perform domestic duties.”
• “US to unify grant application disclosures after Lieber conviction.”
• “The description and comments lacked appropriate context and have been removed from the obituary.”
• “Professor takes on China’s biggest academic database – and wins.”
• A solicitor general requests a retraction from the Times of India.
• “Complainant against plagiarism now faces Calicut varsity inquiry.”
• arXiv posted its 2,000,000th article this week.
• A letter in the CMAJ says “a more detailed explanation for retraction is needed” in the case of a letter about the hijab.
• “5 Things We Learned About Journal Peer Review in 2021.”
• “Can a paid model for peer review be sustainable when the author can decide whether to pay or not?”
• “Research done wrong: A comprehensive investigation of retracted publications in COVID-19.”
• “Of these one thousand three hundred and ninety-six retracted publications, two hundred and eighty-three had been cited one thousand and ninety-six times in systematic reviews.”
• “At what point does incompetence become fraud?”
• “The top 23 most highly compensated received $6.32 million, of which $3.00 million (47.6%) was undisclosed.”
• An anesthesiologist found guilty of misconduct in more than 140 articles has three retracted.
• “Characteristics of retracted editorial articles in the biomedical literature.”
• “The role of collegiality in academic review, promotion, and tenure.“
• Technological University “Dublin had 445 cases of alleged cheating in online exams during pandemic.”
• “F.B.I. Arrests Man Accused of Stealing Unpublished Book Manuscripts.”
• Fakery: It’s everywhere. Including bourbon.
• An author’s note featuring Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. (Hat tip: Mark Lewis)

Like Retraction Watch? You can make a one-time tax-deductible contribution by PayPal or by Square, or a monthly tax-deductible donation by Paypal to support our work, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, add us to your RSS reader, 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].