When Ina Vandebroek read the latest edition of Pharmacognosy, an Elsevier textbook to which she contributed a chapter for the 2017 edition, she was shocked. Although she had declined to write for the 2023 update, her chapter was still in the book, under a different author’s name. “When I first saw this, it was like … Continue reading ‘Exhausting’: Author finds another’s name on an Elsevier book chapter she wrote
Last spring, the Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science published a provocative paper stating that left-handed mothers in Singapore treat their LGBTQ+ children better than do right-handed moms. Except the paper, “Left-Handed Mothers and LGBTQ+ Child Acceptance in Singapore: Exploring the Link through Early Life Rejection,” was fake, a sting, designed to cast shade … Continue reading The Singapore Sting: Why an activist published a fake paper on ‘LGBTQ+ child acceptance’
A drug maker has blinked in a lawsuit against the leading anesthesiology society in the United States, along with several anesthesiology researchers, who it claims libeled the company in a series of articles and other materials critical of its main product. As we reported last month, Pacira Biosciences, which makes the local anesthetic agent Exparel, … Continue reading Drug company withdraws court motion requesting retraction of papers critical of its painkiller
A paper suggesting that smokers were significantly less likely than nonsmokers to contract Covid-19 has been retracted because the authors failed to disclose financial ties to … the tobacco industry. The article, which appeared as a preprint and then as an “early view” in the European Respiratory Journal last July, came from a group at … Continue reading ‘Unfair and unsubstantiated’: Journal retracts paper suggesting smoking is linked to lower COVID-19 risk
Two months after announcing it would review an early 2020 paper on a way to detect the virus that causes COVID-19, a journal says that “the criteria for a retraction of the article have not been fulfilled.” The review of the paper, “Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR, by the journal, Eurosurveillance, … Continue reading On COVID-19 PCR testing paper, “the criteria for a retraction of the article have not been fulfilled”
After a petition from nearly two dozen people in Europe, the United States and Asia, a public health journal says it is investigating an article it published last January about a way to detect the virus that causes COVID-19. [Please see an update on this post.] The paper, “Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by … Continue reading Public health journal “seeking further expert advice” on January paper about COVID-19 PCR testing by high-profile virologist
PLOS ONE has issued an expression of concern for a paper it published last month suggesting that vitamin D might protect against severe COVID-19. Central to the concerns is that the authors seem to have been too far out over their skis in asserting a link between the vitamin and the response to the infection. … Continue reading Paper suggesting vitamin D might protect against COVID-19 earns an expression of concern
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: A whistleblower’s allegations about hundreds of dodgy papers from four … Continue reading Weekend reads: The fate of fraudsters; TV doctors sting a predatory journal; best paper title ever?
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. Sending thoughts to our readers and wishing them the best in this uncertain time. The week … Continue reading Weekend reads: The effects of coronavirus on the literature; a sting involving Big Bird; a made-up name appears in a medical journal
Yes, yes, we know: It’s easy to publish “fake” papers in journals and expose the inherent flaws of academic publishing. We’ve covered many such stings, but there are simply too many for us to cover all. Still, occasionally one is just too clever to ignore. On Saturday, the pseudonymous blogger Neuroskeptic announced that they had … Continue reading May the sting be with you: Another journal prank, too good to overlook