More than six months after two of the world’s leading medical journals retracted papers on COVID-19 based on suspect data from a questionable company, a journal says it has cleared a raft of articles by the controversial founder of the firm. Or, has it? Vascular, a SAGE title, says it has investigated all papers in … Continue reading Journal expresses concern — we think — about papers by Surgisphere founder
In early June, as controversy swirled over a high-profile study of hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19, Christian Funck-Brentano started receiving aggressive emails, texts and tweets. Funck-Brentano, professor of medicine and clinical pharmacology at Sorbonne Université and Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital in Paris, and a colleague had published an editorial in The Lancet alongside the study — purportedly based … Continue reading A month after Surgisphere paper retraction, Lancet retracts, replaces hydroxychloroquine editorial
On the heels of retractions of papers based on data that has fallen under intense scrutiny, an emergency medicine group in Africa is withdrawing a tool that they built using data from the same company. Lee Wallis, one of the editors in chief of the African Journal of Emergency Medicine, described the tool, built in … Continue reading Group withdraws COVID-19 scoring tool based on Surgisphere data following NEJM, Lancet retractions
Two days after issuing expressions of concern about controversial papers on Covid-19, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine have retracted the articles because a number of the authors were not granted access to the underlying data. The Lancet paper, “Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a … Continue reading Lancet, NEJM retract controversial COVID-19 studies based on Surgisphere data
We are pleased to present an excerpt from Thinking About Science: Good Science, Bad Science, and How to Make It Better by Ferric C. Fang and Arturo Casadevall, published by ASM Press/Wiley, October 2023. Amidst the COVID-19 calamity, one can argue that science is one of the few aspects of the human response that has … Continue reading Research integrity during the COVID-19 pandemic: A book excerpt
One of the first studies of long COVID has been retracted and replaced seven months after editors marked it with an expression of concern citing “data errors.” The original paper, “6-month consequences of COVID-19 in patients discharged from hospital: a cohort study,” was published in The Lancet in January 2021. It was “the first large … Continue reading Highly cited Lancet long COVID study retracted and republished
An early and influential paper on long COVID that appeared in The Lancet has been flagged with an expression of concern while the journal investigates “data errors” brought to light by a reader. An editorial that accompanied the paper when it was published in January of last year described it as “the first large cohort … Continue reading Buzzy Lancet long COVID paper under investigation for ‘data errors’
A paper on the potential use of ivermectin to treat Covid-19 has been retracted for a litany of flaws, joining at least 10 other articles on the therapy some liked to promote without evidence to fall. The article was part of a special issue of Toxicology Reports on Covid-19 that has received an expression of … Continue reading Another ivermectin-COVID-19 paper is retracted
A leading repository of social science which is owned by Elsevier has reposted an article it removed on New Year’s Day after the author was accused of defamation and the site was threatened with legal action if it didn’t remove the paper. The article in question was written by Ann Lipton, the associate dean for … Continue reading Preprint on discrimination against women reinstated by Elsevier server after removal for legal threats
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Should journals retract when an author is sent to prison … Continue reading Weekend reads: The ethics committee member who sold grades for cash; how to spot misconduct in clinical trials; biotech cited allegedly altered data in grant application