The BMJ has issued an expression of concern for a paper claiming stem cell therapy can reduce the risk of heart failure. The move comes after sleuths and scientists critiqued the “complete mismatch” between the study data and the article itself. As we reported last week, the October 29 paper included results of a phase … Continue reading BMJ places expression of concern on heavily criticized stem cell paper
A week after The BMJ published a highly publicized paper claiming stem cell therapy can reduce the risk of heart failure, sleuths have unearthed what they are calling “serious” inconsistencies in the data. The paper claims the phase III clinical trial published October 29 included over 400 patients in Shiraz, Iran, and tested whether stem … Continue reading Sleuths flag ‘complete mismatch’ in data of BMJ stem cell study
A journal has retracted a 2025 paper on social media and anxiety after a reader raised questions about the data – and thanks to the mentorship of a sleuth or two. The article appeared in 2023 in BMC Psychology, a Springer Nature title. The sole author was Li Sun, whose affiliation is listed as the … Continue reading Hive mindfulness: Sleuths’ advice leads to retraction of paper on social connection
A journal has retracted five papers about the appearance, sexual behavior and attractiveness of women. Nicolas Guéguen, a professor of marketing at the Université de Bretagne-Sud in France, was an author on each of the papers, published in the Sage journal Perceptual and Motor Skills (PMS) at least 15 years ago. All of the articles … Continue reading Five studies from “Bust Size and Hitchhiking” author retracted
A paper that purported to find vitamin D could reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms has been retracted from PLOS ONE, four years after the journal issued an expression of concern about the research. The article, “Vitamin D sufficiency, a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D at least 30 ng/mL reduced risk for adverse clinical outcomes in patients … Continue reading Paper recommending vitamin D for COVID-19 retracted four years after expression of concern
More than two years after retracting an article by one of its former editors in chief for plagiarism, the British Journal of Sports Medicine has retracted six more pieces by the editor, Paul McCrory, a noted concussion researcher in Australia. The retractions join 11 more of McCrory’s works, including 10 from BJSM and one from … Continue reading Concussion researcher McCrory up to 17 retractions
The journal Social Influence will be issuing expressions of concern for four papers by Nicolas Guéguen, a marketing researcher whose work has long been dogged by allegations, Retraction Watch has learned. Guéguen has to date has lost at least three papers to retraction, and has received many more expressions of concern, for his questionable studies. … Continue reading Exclusive: ‘Bust Size and Hitchhiking’ author to earn four more expressions of concern
Neri Oxman’s problems may be getting worse. The researcher, who has become embroiled in plagiarism accusations following her billionaire husband’s push to depose the president of Harvard for plagiarizing in her thesis, appears to have lifted about 100 words in her thesis from an article that has been plagiarized before. Last week, Business Insider reported … Continue reading Neri Oxman accused of lifting from article whose plagiarism led to downfall of concussion expert
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Retraction Watch turned 13 on Thursday. The week also featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to nearly 350. There are now 42,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in Edifix, EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains 200 titles. … Continue reading Weekend reads: Death penalty for prof who killed whistleblower; psychiatry dept. shakeup after suicide in clinical trial; how scientific communication became highly profitable
Six months after the authors of a 2012 paper requested its retraction, a marketing journal is still investigating the concerns, Retraction Watch has learned. Other researchers had failed to replicate the findings – that consumers choose portion sizes based on their desire to signal higher social status – and discovered anomalies in the data. The … Continue reading Journal hasn’t retracted ‘Super Size Me’ paper six months after authors’ request