Investigation of prominent geneticist Latchman finds “procedural matters,” no misconduct

An investigation by the University College London has cleared prominent geneticist David Latchman of misconduct, but concluded he has “procedural matters in his lab that required attention.” Latchman has two retracted papers; on PubPeer, there are questions about nearly four dozen more. The results of the investigation were first reported by the Times Higher Education. We also received … Continue reading Investigation of prominent geneticist Latchman finds “procedural matters,” no misconduct

Prominent geneticist David Latchman’s group notches second retraction

A team of researchers whose work is under investigation by University College London has retracted a second paper. Three of the 11 authors of the 2005 Journal of Cell Science paper being retracted — David Latchman, Richard Knight, and Anastasis Stephanou — were authors of a Journal of Biological Chemistry paper retracted in January. Stephanou … Continue reading Prominent geneticist David Latchman’s group notches second retraction

Weekend reads: Elsevier journal under fire; a researcher’s PhD is revoked; peer review vs. ‘attention-economy hellscapes’

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 290. There are more than 38,000 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 … Continue reading Weekend reads: Elsevier journal under fire; a researcher’s PhD is revoked; peer review vs. ‘attention-economy hellscapes’

Weekend reads: Questions swirl over kidney transplant papers from China; author apologizes for paper of whether women performed medical procedures as well as men; reports detail widespread fraud in UK lab

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. Retraction Watch came back online on Wednesday of this week, after a 10-day outage for technical … Continue reading Weekend reads: Questions swirl over kidney transplant papers from China; author apologizes for paper of whether women performed medical procedures as well as men; reports detail widespread fraud in UK lab

“Clear signs of manipulation” in paper co-authored by prominent geneticist

A third paper co-authored by researchers based at a prominent lab whose work has been under investigation on and off for almost three years has been retracted. According to the notice, the university’s investigation found that a 2008 paper in FEBS Letters contained “clear signs of manipulation” in three figures. Research from geneticist David Latchman’s … Continue reading “Clear signs of manipulation” in paper co-authored by prominent geneticist

Weekend reads: A publisher sends the wrong message on data sharing; jail for scientific fraud; pigs fly

The week at Retraction Watch featured three new ways companies are trying to scam authors, and a look at why one journal is publishing a running tally of their retractions. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Weekend reads: Pseudoscience in the literature; a world without journals; “invisible and abandoned” trials

The week at Retraction Watch featured the heartfelt response of a researcher when she found out a paper she’d reviewed had been retracted, and a new member of our leaderboard.  Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Weekend reads: Savage peer reviews, cosmology claim bites dust, $50 million diet pill hoax

This week at Retraction Watch featured polar opposites: Two new entries in our “doing the right thing” category, and one in our plagiarism euphemism parade. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Prominent geneticist nets retraction, two corrections, and a lot of questions

A team led by David Latchman, a geneticist and administrator at University College London, has notched a mysterious retraction in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and has had 25 more papers questioned on PubPeer. The JBC notice for “Antiapoptotic activity of the free caspase recruitment domain of procaspase-9: A novel endogenous rescue pathway in cell death” is as useless as they come, a … Continue reading Prominent geneticist nets retraction, two corrections, and a lot of questions