History repeats itself: Diabetes researcher gets four expressions of concern in journal he once sued

A diabetes researcher who lost a defamation suit against a journal that marked four of his papers with expressions of concern now has four more papers flagged – by the same journal. 

Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), placed expressions of concern on four papers led or co-authored by Mario Saad, of the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Brazil on October 23. 

Saad sued the ADA in 2015 after Diabetes marked four other papers with similar notices. A judge dismissed the suit, and the journal later retracted the papers (for which we recognized them with a DiRT — Doing the Right Thing — award). Saad is now up to 19 retractions, by our count. 

In March of this year, sleuth Elisabeth Bik pointed out images in the four papers with “remarkably similar” elements. The expressions of concern identify the same images as problematic, either containing a “panel duplication” or appearing “unexpectedly similar” to images in other papers from the same lab. 

Collectively, the articles have been cited nearly 500 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science. Their titles are: 

• S-Nitrosation of the Insulin Receptor, Insulin Receptor Substrate 1, and Protein Kinase B/Akt: A Novel Mechanism of Insulin Resistance (published 2005)
• Defective Insulin and Acetylcholine Induction of Endothelial Cell–Nitric Oxide Synthase Through Insulin Receptor Substrate/Akt Signaling Pathway in Aorta of Obese Rats (published 2007)
• Inhibition of Hypothalamic Inflammation Reverses Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance in the Liver (published 2012)
• Targeted Disruption of Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Protects Against Aging, S-Nitrosation, and Insulin Resistance in Muscle of Male Mice (published 2013)

Saad has not responded to our request for comment. He previously told us Diabetes’ decision to retract his papers was “unfair and a persecution”:  

It seems to me that they want to demonstrate that they are rigorous with bands and they need to find a scapegoat, and for sure it is easier and coward also, to find one from South America.

David A. D’Alessio, the editor in chief of Diabetes, has not responded to our request for comment.

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