Weekend reads: ‘Illegal practices in palaeontology’; ‘a fake badge of integrity’; researcher jailed

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

• Journal editor in chief who published controversial Covid papers resigns
• Psychiatrist in Canada faked brain imaging data in grant application, U.S. federal watchdog says
• Why misconduct could keep scientists from earning Highly Cited Researcher designations, and how our database plays a part
• BMJ says it’s “an ongoing effort” to find articles by plagiarizing concussion researcher Paul McCrory
• Another ‘Majorana’ particle paper retracted, this time from Science
• Mathematician requests two retractions for “subtle inaccuracies” 

Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 270. There are more than 36,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, 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):

• “Pressure to publish is ‘fuelling illegal practices in palaeontology.’”
• “Has COPE membership become a way for unprincipled journals to buy a fake badge of integrity?”
• “Norway jails researcher who let Iranians use microscope.”
• “62% of researchers have experienced gender violence – but only 13% report it.”
• “How do researchers really feel about methods-sharing?”
• “How often do cancer researchers make their data and code available and what factors are associated with sharing?”
• “These days excessively competitive research environment has generated a negative impact on scientific research including the prevalence of superficial science and research misconduct.”
• “Finnish astronomers acquitted in defamation case related to protesting harassment.”
• How many researchers are aware of predatory journals?
• Four years after being corrected, a paper is retracted. It’s among more than a dozen retractions and corrections for the group.
• Comparing conference presentations, “publications and press releases.”
• “Sunlight not shadows: Double-anonymized peer review is not the progressive answer to status bias.”
• A day in the life of PLOS ONE associate editor Katrien Janin.
• “Analysis of predatory emails in early career academia and attempts at prevention.”
• “The present study revealed a lack of knowledge among graduate students about manuscript writing and scientific misconduct.”
• “Rate of publication hastens, but number of publications slows academic promotion.”
• “Death of patient in closely watched Alzheimer’s trial raises concern about risk for some groups.”
• “There doesn’t have to be a trade-off between good research and fast research.”

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