Cal Poly Pomona education researcher leaves post after rampant plagiarism is revealed

In late June, we wrote about a case of wholesale plagiarism involving an education researcher in California, Thienhuong N. Hoang. Our post prompted a flurry of emails from readers cluing us in to other cases in which Hoang, of California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, had lifted essentially entire articles from other scholars and changed little, if anything, but the author information.

For example, Hoang’s “‘The Contributions of Teachers’ Credentialing Routes and Experience Levels on Classroom Management,” in the January 2009 issue of the International Journal of Instruction, was the same, nearly word-for-word, as the work of two other authors, “Exploring the relationship between certification sources, experience levels, and classroom management orientations of classroom teachers,” published in Teaching and Teacher Education in 2007.

The International Journal of Instruction has removed the article from its archive and placed this announcement on its site: Continue reading Cal Poly Pomona education researcher leaves post after rampant plagiarism is revealed

Former Pitt psych nursing researcher loses seven papers (and counting) in referencing, plagiarism scandal

Scott Weber

Scott Weber seems to have been behaving badly. The Journal of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing (JCAPN) has retracted five of Weber’s papers, dating back to 2009. And the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (JAANP)and Perspectives in Psychiatric Care also have pulled articles by the nursing researcher. The reason: he misused his sources and plagiarized the work of others.

That’s our interpretation of the retraction notices, which come close to saying as much but don’t quite get there. Here they are, so you can judge for yourself: Continue reading Former Pitt psych nursing researcher loses seven papers (and counting) in referencing, plagiarism scandal

Plant paper pulled over authorship concerns

The Journal of Phytopathology has retracted a 2010 article by a French researcher who apparently misled editors about her role in preparing the manuscript.

From the notice for the article, “Trade-off between Virulence and Aggressiveness in Plasmopara halstedii (Sunflower Downy Mildew),” by Nachaat Sakr: Continue reading Plant paper pulled over authorship concerns

A dingo ate my IRB form: Journal cries foul over Aussie-rules football and rugby papers that lied

Toronto Dingos, photo by Ovesny Navarro http://bit.ly/nRirhi

If there’s any group of subjects a scientist wouldn’t want to piss off, it would have to be Aussie-rules football and rugby players, who are tough enough to make a saltwater crocodile wish it was a belt.  And when those guinea pigs are suffering from low back pain — well, we shudder to think.

The journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders has retracted two papers from a group of Australian researchers who appear to have lied about having received IRB approval for their studies of back pain in rough-sport athletes.

According to the first notice, for “Low back pain status in elite and semi-elite Australian football codes: a cross-sectional survey of football (soccer), Australian-Rules, rugby league, rugby union and non-athletic controls:” Continue reading A dingo ate my IRB form: Journal cries foul over Aussie-rules football and rugby papers that lied

University investigating leading German derm lab that retracted Immunology paper

The laboratory of Michael Hertl, a German dermatology researcher with an international reputation, is under investigation for possible misconduct, according to a legal official at Hertl’s institution, Philipps-Universitat Marburg.

The acknowledgement was prompted by our query earlier this week about a 2008 paper from Hertl’s group that had been retracted by the journal Immunology. According to the July 25 retraction notice: Continue reading University investigating leading German derm lab that retracted Immunology paper

Angiogenesis retracts two papers, cites image manipulation in eight, as PI blames unethical students

The journal Angiogenesis is retracting two articles by a group of researchers in India whom it accuses of using manipulated images in six other publications as well.

According to the retraction notice for one of the papers, “Gold nanoparticles inhibit vascular endothelial growth factor-induced angiogenesis and vascular permeability via Src
dependent pathway in retinal endothelial cells
” (we’ve annotated with links and citation data): Continue reading Angiogenesis retracts two papers, cites image manipulation in eight, as PI blames unethical students

After Luxembourg firing, U. Eastern Finland reportedly looking into Carlberg, too

The news isn’t getting any better for Carsten Carlberg. Earlier this month, Carlberg received a pink slip from the University of Luxembourg in the wake of a data fraud scandal involving a former student named Tatjana Degenhardt. As we wrote last November, journals retracted two of Carlberg’s papers after Degenhardt was found to have fabricated data. Although Degenhardt worked at the University of Kuopio (now the University of Eastern Finland), and Carlberg was not accused of wrongdoing, officials in Luxembourg decided that the mess threatened the public image of their fledgling institution and fired him.

We’d assumed that the University of Eastern Finland considered the matter finished, and that what happened in the Grand Duchy would stay in the Grand Duchy. But we were wrong. Continue reading After Luxembourg firing, U. Eastern Finland reportedly looking into Carlberg, too

Should we change our name to Mori Watch? Yet another retraction from cancer researcher

Earlier this week we reported on the latest retraction of an article by Naoki Mori, number 21 in a series. We could have waited a few days and saved ourselves some trouble.

The journal Leukemia Research has retracted a 2006 paper by Mori, titled “Curcumin suppresses constitutive activation of AP-1 by downregulation of JunD protein in HTLV-1-infected T-cell lines.” From the notice, which is behind a paywall: Continue reading Should we change our name to Mori Watch? Yet another retraction from cancer researcher

Another for Mori: 1999 Infection and Immunity paper pulled

When we first wrote about Naoki Mori last December, one question we had was why Infection and Immunity, the journal that got the ball rolling in this case, wasn’t retracting a 1999 article by the serial manipulator. Well, it has.

The August issue of the journal, a publication of the American Society of Microbiology — which levied a 10-year ban on Mori for his misdeeds — contains the following retraction notice: Continue reading Another for Mori: 1999 Infection and Immunity paper pulled

Carsten Carlberg out at University of Luxembourg

The University of Luxembourg has fired researcher Carsten Carlberg after concluding that his name was a drag on the institution.

Here’s an English  translation of an article about the firing, which many readers were kind enough to forward to us: Continue reading Carsten Carlberg out at University of Luxembourg