Two BMC journals – part of the Springer Nature stable – have flagged studies a month after 10 editors at one of the journals resigned to protest the publications’ failure to respond quickly to allegations of data fabrication.
As we reported earlier this month, obstetrician-gynecologist and sleuth Ben Mol sent allegations about papers published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth and BMC Women’s Health on Jan. 29, 2024. When BMC had not responded to Mol by February 28, 10 editors quit.
Mohamed Abdelmonem Kamel of Fayoum University in Egypt, the corresponding author of both articles, did not initially respond to a request for comment from Retraction Watch. However, he left a comment defending the work on our post and said his team could not share the data behind one of the papers “before publishing it first as a paper to prevent stealing the data in another paper by different authors.” The study said that the data “are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.”
Last week, the journals added editors’ notes to the two papers. Both notes read:
Readers are alerted that the reliability of data presented in this article is currently in question. Appropriate editorial action will be taken once this matter is resolved.
It does not appear that the move has changed the editors’ minds quite yet. Alexander Heazell, of the University of Manchester in the UK, who sent the original letter to BMC on behalf of the group, told us his understanding based on communications he has seen “is that my colleagues and I are not planning to re-join the board until more decisive action is taken.”
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