Author: Ivan Oransky

A Nature chain retraction for Arabidopsis paper, and some unanswered questions

courtesy Nature

If a paper is retracted, should papers that cite it get retracted, too? We’ve been on the lookout for this kind of move, which we figure is consistent with cleaning up the scientific record. Today, one appears in Nature.

The original paper, “Mediation of pathogen resistance by exudation of antimicrobials from roots,” purported to show how a particular bug evades the immune system of Arabidopsis, a plant commonly used in the lab. It has been cited 51 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.

The retraction notice says that the paper’s conclusions could no longer be supported because one of the key references — a paper in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry by many of the same authors — had been retracted: Continue reading A Nature chain retraction for Arabidopsis paper, and some unanswered questions

German defense minister Guttenberg resigns after losing his PhD for a plagiarized thesis

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, photo by Peter Weis via Wikimedia

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who was stripped of his PhD last week after being found guilty of plagiarizing his law thesis, has resigned his post as Germany’s defense minister. According to Reuters:

“I was always ready to fight but I’ve reached the limit of my powers,” Guttenberg, 39, told journalists in a hastily arranged news briefing at the Defense Ministry in Berlin.

“I informed the chancellor in a very friendly conversation that I’m resigning from political offices and requested to be relieved. It’s the most painful step of my life.”

As we wrote last week, a Bremen University professor first discovered the plagiarism, which was then explored a wiki. The University of Bayreuth took away his doctorate on Wednesday the 23rd.

Alice Bell noted in a comment yesterday Continue reading German defense minister Guttenberg resigns after losing his PhD for a plagiarized thesis

University of Sao Paulo fires professor after a retraction for plagiarism

February has turned out to be a bad month for people found guilty of plagiarism. On Friday, we covered the case of the German foreign defense minister who lost his PhD after his university became aware he had copied passages from newspaper stories into his thesis.

And now we’ve learned that the University of Sao Paolo Paulo (USP) dismissed a full professor earlier this month after an investigation into a study he retracted last year because parts of it had been plagiarized. It has also stripped one of the professor’s former students of her PhD. Continue reading University of Sao Paulo fires professor after a retraction for plagiarism

Ninth Bulfone-Paus retraction notice appears, in Molecular and Cellular Biology

Another retraction notice for a paper published by Silvia Bulfone-Paus and colleagues has appeared, this one for a 2005 paper in Molecular and Cellular Biology.

The retraction notice is brief but to the point: Continue reading Ninth Bulfone-Paus retraction notice appears, in Molecular and Cellular Biology

An unusual retraction: German defense minister zu Guttenberg loses doctorate over plagiarized thesis

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, photo by Peter Weis via Wikimedia http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Peter_Weis

When we cover plagiarism on Retraction Watch, particularly when it leads to retractions, we’re writing almost exclusively about science. But there’s a story about a retraction outside of the scientific literature that has been unfolding over the past week, and grabbing enough headlines, that we figured we should post something on it.

It was Bremen University’s Andreas Fischer-Lescano who discovered what he called “a brazen plagiarism” in German defense minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg’s 2006 law thesis, according to The Guardian. The minister was already a member of parliament at the time, and had apparently used sections of newspaper articles without attribution.

When the allegations first came to light last week, zu Guttenberg denied them. But a university ombudsperson began looking into the matter. And der Spiegel reported that zu Guttenberg Continue reading An unusual retraction: German defense minister zu Guttenberg loses doctorate over plagiarized thesis

Imperial College London, where Jatinder Ahluwalia did his PhD, now repeating his key experiments

We have more news about Jatinder Ahluwalia, whose career has so far been punctuated by dismissal from the University of Cambridge for faking data, and by having been found guilty of scientific misconduct at University College London. Yesterday, we reported that Ahluwalia hadn’t told Imperial College London UCL — where he earned his PhD — about being dismissed from Cambridge.

Today, we learned that Imperial College London, where he he earned his PhD, has also had concerns over Ahluwalia’s work, and is repeating some of his experiments. In a statement, a College spokesperson told Retraction Watch:  Continue reading Imperial College London, where Jatinder Ahluwalia did his PhD, now repeating his key experiments

Ahluwalia did not tell UCL he had been dismissed from Cambridge

About two weeks ago, we reported that Jatinder Ahluwalia — a scientist at the University of East London (UEL) who had been found guilty of scientific misconduct at University College London (UCL) — had been dismissed from the University of Cambridge’s graduate studies program for data fabrication. A dean at UEL told us later that week that the university was looking into the situation, and the lack of progress and communication from senior officials apparently has the faculty in an uproar. Continue reading Ahluwalia did not tell UCL he had been dismissed from Cambridge

Two more Bulfone-Paus retraction notices appear

The number of retraction notices of papers co-authored by Silvia Bulfone-Paus is up to eight.

The Journal of Leukocyte Biology, which was apparently the first to announce they had accepted a retraction, has published its notice: Continue reading Two more Bulfone-Paus retraction notices appear

Exclusive: UEL staff “in uproar about lack of progress” investigating Jatinder Ahluwalia

On Friday, we reported that the University of East London (UEL) was looking into the career of Jatinder Ahluwalia, the UEL researcher who has left a trail of alleged scientific misconduct at Cambridge University and University College London.

Today, in another Retraction Watch exclusive, we have obtained a letter sent by a faculty member at UEL to department colleagues. It suggests that faculty there are very concerned about the toll these allegations may take on the university’s students and reputation, and are furious that senior officials have failed to keep them in the loop about any potential investigation.

Here’s the text of the letter: Continue reading Exclusive: UEL staff “in uproar about lack of progress” investigating Jatinder Ahluwalia

Update on mysterious JACI retraction: Data were falsified

Since the weekend, we’ve been trying to get more details on a somewhat mysterious retraction in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The sparse notice really only said that there were “data inconsistencies” that made the data unreliable.

On Monday, as we noted in an update to the post yesterday, we learned:

The inconsistencies related to what an individual’s lab-book recorded in terms of patients and infections. These came to light when this data was compared to hospital records, during the process of manuscript preparation. As noted, we reported our concerns about the validity of the data and following a review, there was no adequate explanation and the concerns remained.

We still couldn’t tell whether this was error or falsification. Late last night, we got the answer from co-author Euan Tovey: Continue reading Update on mysterious JACI retraction: Data were falsified