Author: Ivan Oransky

The week at Retraction Watch featured the story behind a Nature retraction, and the retraction of a paper by a pioneer in the field of exosome research. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Sexism from a Nobel laureate; publisher deception; irreproducibility’s price tag

The week at Retraction Watch featured a marriage proposal tucked into a paper’s acknowledgements section, the retraction of a controversial Science advice column, and The New York Times pushing for more focus and funding on research misconduct. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Honorary authorship demands, fetishizing metrics, does media attention drive research agenda?

As might have been expected, continuing developments in the Michael LaCour gay canvassing study retraction have drowned out coverage of stories that ordinarily might capture a lot of attention, such as fake case reports making their way into CDC data. A sampling:

• Berkeley graduate student David Broockman, one of the people whose critique brought down the study, “was consistently told by friends and advisers to keep quiet about his concerns lest he earn a reputation as a troublemaker, or —  perhaps worse — someone who merely replicates and investigates others’ research rather than plant a flag of his own.” A chilling quote from New York Magazine’s Jesse Singal’s devastating tick-tock of the case.
• The New York Times got the first interview with LaCour.
• There are a lot of questions about another of LaCour’s studies, according to BuzzFeed’s Virginia Hughes.
• Ivan went on PBS NewsHour to discuss the case.

But just like last week, there was plenty happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study saga continues; Elsevier policy sparks concern; a string of scandals

As we noted Saturday, there was so much happening around the web last week that it made sense to break up Weekend Reads, especially since this is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and elsewhere. Here’s part 2: Continue reading Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation ever; blame the antibodies?

This week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the Science same-sex marriage study, after we broke the news Wednesday morning that one of its authors had requested its retraction. (And crashed our servers in the process.) So the first section of this Weekend Reads will focus on pieces following up on that story:

• The New Republic’s Naomi Shavin told the story of how we broke the story, and how the study fell apart.
• Jesse Singal of New York Magazine interviewed Donald Green, the co-author who asked for the retraction.
• Ivan spoke to NPR’s On The Media about the study, and what the story says about peer review.
• “”The incentives to publish today are corrupting the scientific literature and the media that covers it.” We wrote a New York Times op-ed for today’s paper, “What’s Behind Big Science Frauds?“

But there was plenty more happening this week: Continue reading Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the world’s biggest faker was caught