Retraction Watch Staff

Weekend reads: Stopping citation hallucinations; the ‘uncanny valley’ of predatory journals; fighting back against misconduct

The week at Retraction Watch featured:

‘Article broker’ in China trying to hook journal editors with fishy publishing deals
Deputy department chair loses paper for image duplication, more retractions to follow
University vice chancellor’s work crawling with ‘tortured phrases’
When you discover you’re an author on a paper you’ve never seen

Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 500. There are more than 60,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains more than 300 titles. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions lately — or our list of top 10 most highly cited retracted papers? What about The Retraction Watch Mass Resignations List?

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

Weekend reads: ‘Europe’s largest paper mill?’; the ‘Paper Mill Iceberg’ of cancer research; why is Trump gutting research integrity agencies?

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

Papers continue to face retractions for failure to license pricy tool
‘Tin Man Syndrome,’ five other case studies retracted following Retraction Watch coverage
Guest post: In the name of Scopus, one hijacked journal easily tricks authors
New COPE retraction guidelines address paper mills, third parties, and more
Iraqi university dean linked to paper mills has more than a dozen retractions

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

Weekend reads: Lawyer sues to retract Paxil paper; most retracted papers have ‘negligible scholarly impact’; the high costs of freely available research

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

‘No misconduct here’: Author defends addendum that sleuth says is ‘inadequate’
Journal let authors make undisclosed changes that masked stolen content in paper
Chemist in Japan up to 40 retractions, earning him a spot on our leaderboard
Exclusive: Cancer researcher sues MD Anderson over misconduct finding
Embattled journal Cureus halts peer reviewer suggestions

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

Weekend reads: ChatGPT ignores retractions; the ‘Swiss Cheese Model’ for flagging papers; plagiarism in the age of AI

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

Cardiology researcher in Italy up to 17 retractions, most for duplication
Authors asked Elsevier to retract papers in 2012. In the case of one paper, they’re still waiting
Hive mindfulness: Sleuths’ advice leads to retraction of paper on social connection
Top education researcher goes to court over plagiarism claims, university review
PLOS One slaps four papers with expressions of concern for overlapping control data

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

Weekend reads: Journal says no to RFK Jr.; another Microsoft quantum computing correction; ‘Journal Impact Nonsense’

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

Former lab tech earns federal funding ban years after leaving science
High school student who volunteered at NASA-sponsored lab gets retraction
Genomics pioneer earns first retraction for anti-aging gene therapy paper
Sage journal retracts nearly 50 papers for signs of paper mill activity
‘Tin Man Syndrome’ case plagiarized from hoax, sleuths say

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

Weekend reads: Scientific fraud at scale; upheaval inside US human protections office; vaccines-autism paper retracted

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

Springer Nature retracts book with fake citations. Help us find more cases like this
Fighting coordinated publication fraud is like ‘emptying an overflowing bathtub with a spoon,’ study coauthor says. More coverage from the New York Times, Science, Nature and the Economist.
‘Biologically implausible distributions’ and self-plagiarism result in 10 retractions for ob-gyn
Dean accused of plagiarism in Bulgaria not guilty, ministry report says

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

Weekend reads: Retraction Watch’s 15th birthday; ‘the superstar scientist’ who faked data; sleuths vs. integrity officers on handling misconduct

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

Frontiers to retract 122 articles linked to “unethical” network, says there are thousands more
27-year-old Nature paper earns expression of concern
Noticed: Sleuths are starting to get credit for retractions
AI research journal with sham board, metrics holds researcher’s paper hostage
Happy 15th anniversary, Retraction Watch

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Happy 15th anniversary, Retraction Watch

Once upon a time, a long time ago, two science journalists had an idea for a blog about retractions. And on Aug. 3, 2010, Retraction Watch launched, detailing in the first post why retractions matter.

And now, 15 years and 6,700 posts later, that work seems more important than ever.

We are gratified every day to see Retraction Watch driving the conversation on integrity in scientific research. Our work has provided the foundation for stories on mass resignations at journals, how fake phrases end up in the literature, the retraction of a paper claiming evidence for an ancient comet with Biblical ties. We’ve gotten shoutouts in Science, which included links to our stories as examples for scientists of how to respond constructively to critiques of their work, and in Nature, which urged universities to examine their own retraction data.

Weekend reads: Science retracts ‘arsenic life’ paper; another journal issue on Palestine cancelled; JAMA, NEJM editors decry political interference

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

Microbiome company CEO who linked COVID vaccine to bacterial decline now has four retractions
Misconduct investigation at U.S. military university uncovers image duplication
After 15 years of controversy, Science retracts ‘arsenic life’ paper. More coverage from Science, Nature, The New York Times, Scientific American, and The Hindu.
Reviewer accused of stealing manuscript and publishing it as his own denies he refereed it
Panel upholds results of contested U Toronto mammography study

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

Weekend reads: India institutes face penalties for retractions; editors resign after publisher sold; should the Tuskegee Study be retracted?

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The week at Retraction Watch featured:

University dean’s attempt to correct a paper turns into a retraction
Wake Forest cancer lab blames ‘honest mistakes’ for retractions
Springer Nature to retract machine learning book after our coverage
‘Biased’ and ‘unethical’: Journal objects to Scopus delisting
Director of Cambridge toxicology institute retracts paper for potential image manipulation

Here’s what was happening elsewhere (some of these items may be paywalled, metered access, or require free registration to read):

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