The week at Retraction Watch featured an expression of concern in Science just days after a paper was published, mass editorial board resignations over a paper defending colonialism, and two papers retracted for publisher errors. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Sexual harassment = scientific misconduct, says one society; favorite plagiarism excuses
Author: Ivan Oransky
Weekend reads: Fired for fake peer review; world’s most prolific fraudster; peer reviewers behaving badly?
The week at Retraction Watch featured a post on just how much an authorship costs if you want to buy one, anger over charges to use a common research tool, and the revocation of a PhD from a once-rising star scientist. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Fired for fake peer review; world’s most prolific fraudster; peer reviewers behaving badly?
The Olympics of research into scientific publishing is happening now. Follow along here.
CHICAGO — As many Retraction Watch readers may know, the Peer Review Congress happens every four years — much like the Olympics. For three days here on the shores of Lake Michigan, researchers will present findings on subjects from bias to data sharing to misconduct. Our Ivan Oransky is there, and will be tweeting, so follow along at @RetractionWatch and at #PRC8. And if you’re there, say hello. Continue reading The Olympics of research into scientific publishing is happening now. Follow along here.
Weekend reads: Suicide after misconduct; taxonomic vandalism; a disastrous Nature editorial
The week at Retraction Watch featured a battle over psychologists and torture, a case of misconduct at Harvard, allegations of bribery, and a lawsuit against the New York Times. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Suicide after misconduct; taxonomic vandalism; a disastrous Nature editorial
Predatory journals: Not just a problem in developing world countries, says new Nature paper
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“Common wisdom,” according to the authors of a new piece in Nature, “assumes that the hazard of predatory publishing is restricted mainly to the developing world.” But the authors of the new paper, led by David Moher of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, found that more than half — 57% — of the 2,000 articles published in journals they determined were predatory were from high-income countries. In fact, the U.S. was second only to India in number of articles published in such journals. We asked Moher, who founded Ottawa Hospital’s Centre for Journalology in 2015, a few questions about the new work.
Retraction Watch (RW): Your paper comes out on the heels of a Bloomberg story showing that Big Pharma researchers are also publishing in predatory journals. Does all of this suggest that our understanding of who publishes in predatory journals is incomplete, or even wrong? Continue reading Predatory journals: Not just a problem in developing world countries, says new Nature paper
Elsevier shutters earth science journal
Elsevier will close GeoResJ, a journal that published work on climate change, among other subjects, after five years of publication.
According to a statement on the journal’s site: Continue reading Elsevier shutters earth science journal
Weekend reads: Publishing too much?; CRISPR doubts; Pharma in predatory journals
The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a paper from Yale on ketamine and depression, a retraction for Carlo Croce, and a discussion of when a citation may not be enough. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Publishing too much?; CRISPR doubts; Pharma in predatory journals
Carlo Croce, OSU cancer researcher under investigation, retracts paper
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A researcher whose work has come under repeated scrutiny has retracted a 2008 paper for “errors that occurred in the construction” of various figures.
Carlo Croce, the corresponding author of the newly retracted paper, has been dogged by misconduct accusations for years — as recently described in the New York Times. His employer, The Ohio State University, has recently re-opened an investigation into his work. Seven of his papers have now been retracted, and fourteen have been corrected for image and text issues such as manipulation, duplication, and errors, as well as two others earning expressions of concern.
Here’s the retraction notice for “Fhit Interaction with Ferredoxin Reductase Triggers Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species and Apoptosis of Cancer Cells,” in the Journal of Biological Chemistry: Continue reading Carlo Croce, OSU cancer researcher under investigation, retracts paper
Weekend reads: An NIH grant scam; are calls for retraction useful?; how to end honorary authorship
The week at Retraction Watch featured the revocation of a PhD, a questionable way to boost university rankings, and a look at what editors should do when a researcher known to have committed misconduct submits a new manuscript. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: An NIH grant scam; are calls for retraction useful?; how to end honorary authorship
Updated: Ohio State revokes PhD of co-author of now-retracted paper on shooter video games
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[This post, which at 1200 UTC 8/25/17 originally reported on the then-upcoming vote, has been updated at 1800 UTC 8/25/17 to include the results of the vote.]
A researcher who co-authored a paper about video games that was retracted earlier this year has had her PhD from The Ohio State University revoked.
As WOSU reported this afternoon, the vote today of the university’s Board of Trustees was unanimous. The scheduled vote on whether to revoke Jodi Whitaker’s degree was first reported yesterday by The Columbus Dispatch.
While a graduate student at Ohio State, Whitaker was co-author of a paper that claimed to find that first-person shooter video games improved marksmanship. As we’ve reported, the paper, published online in 2012, was retracted earlier this year, two years after a university committee was alerted to irregularities in the data by two outside researchers.
The controversy over the paper became heated at times. Continue reading Updated: Ohio State revokes PhD of co-author of now-retracted paper on shooter video games