Author: Ivan Oransky

University of Lisbon investigation that spawned neuroscience retractions found no evidence of misconduct

j neuroscienceYesterday, we reported on two retractions in the Journal of Neuroscience whose notices referred to a University of Lisbon report that had determined there was  “substantial data misrepresentation” in the original articles.  The notice didn’t say anything about misconduct, but when we see “misrepresentation,” we tend to think — as do many others — that there had been funny business.

But we heard back this morning from the senior author of the study, Ana M. Sebastião, and there’s a lot more to this story. It turns out that the University of Lisbon committee that wrote the report concluded, unanimously, that Continue reading University of Lisbon investigation that spawned neuroscience retractions found no evidence of misconduct

University of Lisbon finds “substantial data misrepresentation;” two Journal of Neuroscience papers retracted

j neuroscienceA University of Lisbon investigation has prompted two retractions in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The papers share a few authors, including senior author Ana M. Sebastião. Here’s the notice for the first paper: Continue reading University of Lisbon finds “substantial data misrepresentation;” two Journal of Neuroscience papers retracted

Royal jelly figure flushed: Author removes figure from 2002 paper

j biochemRoyal jelly — “the goo that sustains honeybees destined for royalty” and is touted dubiously for everything “from youthful skin to virility,” as Nature put it — is apparently a hot research topic. So when a Retraction Watch tipster sent us a corrigendum that seemed to have done something we hadn’t seen before — retract a single figure, without saying why — we figured we’d check it out.

Here’s the text of the corrigendum: Continue reading Royal jelly figure flushed: Author removes figure from 2002 paper

Eight papers by anti-terrorism professor retracted for plagiarism

Nasrullah Memon
Nasrullah Memon, via University of Southern Denmark

An anti-terrorism researcher at the University of Southern Denmark has had a number of papers in conference proceedings retracted for plagiarism.

Debora Weber-Wulff, who has researched plagiarism for a decade, reports on her blog Copy, Shake, and Paste that eight papers by Nasrullah Memon have been retracted after the Vroniplag website revealed similarities between his work and that of other authors.

According to a university website, Memon is Continue reading Eight papers by anti-terrorism professor retracted for plagiarism

Diederik Stapel earns 33rd and 34th retractions

stapel_npcTwo more retractions for Diederik Stapel, his 33rd and 34th, by our count.

The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, which has been a frequent subject of Retraction Watch posts recently, has retracted “Similarities and differences between the impact of traits and expectancies: What matters is whether the target stimulus is ambiguous or mixed:” Continue reading Diederik Stapel earns 33rd and 34th retractions

Leading cancer researcher retracts 2003 paper for “inappropriate presentation”

cancer cellOne of the world’s leading cancer researchers, MIT’s Robert Weinberg, has retracted a decade-old paper after finding out it contained errors.

Here’s the notice for “Ras Modulates Myc Activity to Repress Thrombospondin-1 Expression and Increase Tumor Angiogenesis,” a paper originally published in Cancer Cell in 2003: Continue reading Leading cancer researcher retracts 2003 paper for “inappropriate presentation”

Do as I say, not as I do? Duplication in ethics journal earns author five-year publishing ban

j business ethicsThe next time a business professor in Thailand is looking for an ethics case study, he might look no further than the mirror.

Mohammad Asif Salam earned himself a five-year ban on publishing in a Springer journal after publishing work there that he’d already published elsewhere. Here’s the notice for “Corporate social responsibility in purchasing and supply chain,” a paper which appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics in 2009: Continue reading Do as I say, not as I do? Duplication in ethics journal earns author five-year publishing ban

A word about the Retraction Watch comments policy

logoBecause of a number of heated exchanges in the comments over the past few weeks here at Retraction Watch — mostly in response to our coverage of the shutdown of the Science Fraud site — we’ve added this to our FAQ:

We are huge fans of Retraction Watch commenters. They broaden our posts, send us tips, and correct us when we get things wrong. Without them, the site would be a shadow of itself. However, we have recently found ourselves — this update is from January 2013 — having to edit ad hominem attacks out of comments, unapprove other comments, and contact some commenters to remind them of what’s appropriate.

It may not be clear to those who feel the need to resort to such personal attacks Continue reading A word about the Retraction Watch comments policy

Retraction eight appears for social psychologist Lawrence Sanna

jespEarlier this week, we reported on retractions six and seven , in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, for Lawrence Sanna, the former University of Michigan psychologist who resigned last May after questions were raised about his work. Retraction eight has now appeared, also in the JESP.

Here’s the notice for “When thoughts don’t feel like they used to: Changing feelings of subjective ease in judgments of the past:” Continue reading Retraction eight appears for social psychologist Lawrence Sanna

Retraction 32 appears for Diederik Stapel

stapel_npcDiederik Stapel has another retraction, his 32nd.

Here’s the notice, for “”Information to go: Fluency enhances the usability of primed information,” which first appeared in 2010 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology: Continue reading Retraction 32 appears for Diederik Stapel