Have a seat, this one’s a howler.
According to a retraction notice for “Computer application in mathematics,” published in Computers & Mathematics with Applications: Continue reading Math paper retracted because it “contains no scientific content”
Author: Ivan Oransky
ORI sanctions Oregon eye stem cell researcher for faking data in grant applications
Peter Francis, a former Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) eye researcher, has been sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) for claiming, in grant applications, to have performed experiments that he hadn’t actually done.
According to ORI’s case summary, Francis Continue reading ORI sanctions Oregon eye stem cell researcher for faking data in grant applications
Salzburg University fires crystallographer Robert Schwarzenbacher for faking data in Journal of Immunology paper
The crystallographer who confessed to data fabrication that has forced the retraction of a structure in a Journal of Immunology paper on birch pollen allergen — but later recanted — has been fired by the University of Salzburg.
Robert Schwarzenbacher, 39, was awarded a 1.7 million-euro Marie Curie fellowship, the highest individual European research award, six years ago. According to Salzburg’s ORF.at: Continue reading Salzburg University fires crystallographer Robert Schwarzenbacher for faking data in Journal of Immunology paper
Group investigated by University of Louisville corrects lung cancer paper after retracting six others
A group of researchers whose work has been under investigation at the University of Louisville has issued a correction for a paper in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology (AJRCMB).
The correction follows three retractions each in the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the AJRCMB, the latter of which made it clear that lab member ShouWei Han was responsible for the manipulations and duplications that brought down the papers. Here’s the new notice, which appeared in the March 1, 2012 issue of the journal: Continue reading Group investigated by University of Louisville corrects lung cancer paper after retracting six others
Endocrinologist Shigeaki Kato resigns amidst University of Tokyo misconduct investigation
Shigeaki Kato, an endocrinology researcher at the University of Tokyo who retracted a paper late last month, has resigned amidst an investigation into whether he committed misconduct, Japanese media outlets are reporting.
According to the reports, the university has been investigating Shigeaki Kato and his group, affiliated with the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, for scientific misconduct. The investigation was prompted by an outside whistleblower’s allegations in January about 24 of Kato’s papers. The whistleblower claimed that the papers manipulated and reused data improperly, and created a YouTube video to spread the word, as ScienceInsider reported earlier this year.
One of the 24 papers, Continue reading Endocrinologist Shigeaki Kato resigns amidst University of Tokyo misconduct investigation
Third retraction arrives for Alirio Melendez, this one in the Journal of Cellular Physiology
Alirio Melendez, the former National University of Singapore researcher who has already retracted two papers in the midst of an investigation into about 70 of his publications, has had a third retracted a third.
Here’s the notice from the Journal of Cellular Physiology: Continue reading Third retraction arrives for Alirio Melendez, this one in the Journal of Cellular Physiology
Can we trust Western blots?
The title of this post is the headline of our latest column for LabTimes. It’s inspired by a number of animated discussions on Retraction Watch following our coverage of various Western blot problems — some unintentional, and some, well, less so.
Take, for example, this comment, which we quote in the column: Continue reading Can we trust Western blots?
Salami slicing and heart attacks don’t mix: Duplication, lack of transparency lead to retraction
A group of French cardiology researchers have retracted a study of a potential way to rule out heart attacks, after it became clear they had used data from another study without alerting the journal.
In an unusually forthright letter accompanying the retraction of “Concomitant measurement of copeptin and high-sensitivity troponin for fast and reliable rule out of acute myocardial infarction,” originally published in Intensive Care Medicine, Bruno Riou and colleagues note: Continue reading Salami slicing and heart attacks don’t mix: Duplication, lack of transparency lead to retraction
A “retraction in part” for Anil Potti and colleagues, in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
A partial retraction has joined the ten retractions and five corrections of Anil Potti’s papers, this one of a 2008 paper in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. The move comes 14 months after the retraction of the Nature Medicine paper upon which much of the Molecular Cancer Therapeutics paper was based.
Here’s the notice: Continue reading A “retraction in part” for Anil Potti and colleagues, in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
Protein structure retracted after investigation into “highly improbable features,” journal calls it fraud
In 2010, a group of crystallographers immunologists and allergy researchers at the University of Salzburg published a paper in the Journal of Immunology claiming to have derived the structure of a birch pollen allergen.
That structure, however, caught the attention of Bernhard Rupp, an eminent crystallographer. In January of this year, Rupp submitted a paper to Acta Crystallographica Section F pointing out problems with it, which prompted the editors of the crystallography journal to contact the authors of the original paper a month later. Those authors, it turns out, agreed with Rupp, they write in a response to his paper published in the April 2012 issue of Acta Crystallographica Section F: Continue reading Protein structure retracted after investigation into “highly improbable features,” journal calls it fraud