An investigation by a national research institute in Japan has concluded one of its former researchers fabricated and falsified figures in seven papers. Two publishers confirmed they are investigating the articles.
Joseph Raj Xavier, of Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences in Chennai, India, has lost 10 other papers this year alone, according to the Retraction Watch Database. His total is currently 41 retractions, earning him a spot on the Retraction Watch Leaderboard.
The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan, found Xavier guilty of fabrication and falsification in “scanning electron microscope images, atomic force microscope images, and scanning electrochemical microscope images, among others,” according to a translation of an investigation report released September 29.
The investigation found it was “highly likely that figures were reused; there were signs of extensive manipulation, such as scaling the figures to full size, stretching or rotating them, and traces of cutting and pasting parts of images were found in multiple figures,” according to the report. Xavier committed self-plagiarism in six of the papers published from 2014 to 2017, the investigation found. The articles cover the detection and prevention of metal corrosion.
“Based on these findings, it was concluded that specific acts of misconduct were committed intentionally,” the report states.
The institute looked into 23 papers in total, eight of which listed his affiliation as NIMS. One of the eight did not contain evidence of misconduct, NIMS found. For the other 15 papers listing Xavier at other institutions, published from 2016 to 2019, the committee said there was an “extremely high likelihood” Xavier altered figures used in papers he published while with NIMS and “improperly used them as figures” in papers “under the affiliation of another institution.”
The case was brought to our attention by Haklak Rockbill, professor emeritus at Ochanomizu University who tracks and writes about research ethics and misconduct.
Xavier’s work has been cited over 4,000 times, roughly one-third of which are self citations, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science.
Xavier lists Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences as his affiliation on several recent papers. Repeated emails to his Saveetha and multiple personal email addresses went unanswered. We have flagged Saveetha in the past for its excessive self-citation rates and, last year, we reported its retraction rate has risen drastically in recent years.
NIMS alerted Xavier’s current institution of their findings, the representative told us, but did not confirm whether Saveetha was that institution.
“After being informed that an interview would be conducted as part of the investigation, Dr. Xavier stopped responding to communications,” the NIMS representative said.
As part of the investigation, the NIMS committee looked into the work of Xavier’s frequent coauthor, his supervisor Toshiya Nishimura. They concluded Nishimura had not intentionally committed misconduct, but noted for one of the papers where Nishimura was the corresponding author, “there was a lack of communication with Mr. Xavier and insufficient review of the manuscript.” For six other papers the committee examined, “it was confirmed that Mr. Xavier had added Mr. Nishimura as a co-author without permission after leaving the organization and submitted the papers.”
The institute became aware of PubPeer comments flagging Xavier’s work on January 22 when it received a call on their research misconduct reporting hotline, the report states. Nishimura had retired from NIMS before then, the Legal Affairs and Compliance Office at NIMS told Retraction Watch.
Of the seven papers the committee said contained misconduct, four appear in Springer Nature journals and two in Elsevier journals. The investigation committee recommended Xavier and Nishimura withdraw the papers. “However, we have not yet received an indication from Mr. Xavier regarding whether or not he will comply with the recommendation within the period stipulated in the regulations,” the report reads.
The Legal Affairs and Compliance Office at NIMS told us they “plan to inform the relevant journals of the investigation findings in due course.”
Tim Kersjes, head of Research Integrity at Springer Nature, did not directly respond to our question of whether Xavier had informed the publisher of the investigation. However, he said the publisher is “aware of concerns with a number of papers authored by this individual, and our Research Integrity Team are conducting thorough, ongoing investigations into relevant articles.” Authors found to have violated the publisher’s Act with Integrity policy “may face restrictions on their engagement with our journals,” Kersjes said.
An Elsevier spokesperson said the publisher is “aware of the issues raised regarding this author” and that the case is under investigation.
The seventh paper in the investigation was published in 2017 by the International Journal of Petrochemical Science & Engineering. The journal’s publisher, MedCrave — which once appeared on the now-defunct Beall’s List and was the target of a Seinfeld-themed sting in 2017 — did not respond to our request for comment.
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