Zulfiqar Habib, dean of computer science at COMSATS University Islamabad, in Pakistan, was appalled when he discovered part of a former PhD student’s dissertation had been published in a scientific journal. After all, the former student, Kurshid Asghar, had been dead for more than a year by the time the manuscript was submitted to Security … Continue reading Wiley reopens plagiarism case about dead researcher’s work
A researcher who sued the publisher PLOS to prevent it from posting an expression of concern for one of her papers has dropped her suit, and the publisher tells us it will add a correction to the article instead – but may “revisit this case” to deal with “unresolved issues.” We’ve previously reported on the … Continue reading PLOS backs down from expression of concern after author’s lawsuit
A diabetes researcher who lost a defamation suit against a journal that marked four of his papers with expressions of concern now has four more papers flagged – by the same journal. Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), placed expressions of concern on four papers led or co-authored by Mario Saad, of … Continue reading History repeats itself: Diabetes researcher gets four expressions of concern in journal he once sued
A gastroenterology researcher has sued a scientific journal to stop it from publishing an expression of concern for one of her papers. Soudamani Singh, an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical and Translational Sciences at Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in Huntington, W. Va., is the middle author of “Cyclooxygenase pathway … Continue reading Scientist sues publisher to block expression of concern
In February, the editor-in-chief of Food and Chemical Toxicology published an editorial calling for “Papers on potential toxic effects of COVID-19 vaccines.” Following this call, in April 2022, the journal – no stranger to Retraction Watch readers – published an article titled “Innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations: The role of G-quadruplexes, exosomes, and … Continue reading Guest post: What happened when we tried to get a paper claiming ‘billions of lives are potentially at risk’ from COVID-19 vaccines retracted
Worried about scarce research funding? Does the prospect of paying rent on that meager post-doc salary keep you up at night? Fear no more! Innoscience Research in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to the rescue. The company has launched an innovative (read: shady) scheme to pay researchers to cite studies from several journals it controls. How much … Continue reading Publisher offers cash for citations
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: Eleven papers corrected after nutrition prof fails to disclose patent, … Continue reading Weekend reads: “Hot-crazy matrix” paper; “comfort women” controversy; COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
A pair of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are suing the Journal of Biological Chemistry for defamation after the publication retracted one of their papers for problematic images. Raju Reddy and Aravind Reddy Tarugu, who are not related, claim the JBC and its publisher, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, defamed them … Continue reading Pitt researchers sue journal for defamation following retraction
A group of researchers based in Italy has had three papers retracted for likely using the same images to represent different experimental conditions. The retractions, in Diabetes, published by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), follow expressions of concern for the papers in early 2018 and the launch of an investigation by the authors’ institution into … Continue reading After university goes silent, diabetes journal retracts three papers
FEBS Letters has retracted three papers by the Brazilian diabetologist Mario Saad, bringing his total to 18. The now-retracted articles, published between 2005 and 2010, contain doctored images, according to the notices, which read similarly. Here’s one, for the 2005 paper “Aspirin inhibits serine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 in growth hormone treated animals”: