by author – Page 29 – Retraction Watch

U. Illinois chancellor earns mega-correction for duplicate publication

Phyllis Wise, from University of Illinois — Phyllis Wise, via University of Illinois

Phyllis Wise, the chancellor of the University of Illinois and an obstetrics researcher, has called for a massive correction of a 2006 paper in Neuroscience for work she appears to have tried to pass off as having been previously unpublished — but which wasn’t.

The article, “Estrogen therapy: Does it help or hurt the adult and aging brain? Insights derived from animal models,” has been cited 47 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.

And it had caught also the attention of readers on PubPeer, who noted that: Continue reading U. Illinois chancellor earns mega-correction for duplicate publication

Diederik Stapel loses teaching post, admits he was sockpuppeting on Retraction Watch

Diederik Stapel’s reinvention as a teacher at a college in the Netherlands has proven to be short-lived.

According to the NRC Handelsblad, Stapel resigned from the job at Fontys in solidarity with Anton Dautzenberg, whose contract at Fontys was terminated and with whom Stapel had co-authored a play. A performance of that play was cancelled last month.

Stapel, who has 54 retractions, tells Retraction Watch that he “had to resign:” Continue reading Diederik Stapel loses teaching post, admits he was sockpuppeting on Retraction Watch

Curtain up on second act for Dutch fraudster Stapel: College teacher

Diederik Stapel, the Dutch social psychologist and admitted data fabricator — and owner of 54 retraction notices — is now teaching at a college in the town of Tilburg.

According to Omroep Brabant, Stapel was offered the job as a kind of adjunct at Fontys Academy for Creative Industries to teach social philosophy. The site quotes a Nick Welman explaining the rationale for hiring Stapel (per Google Translate): Continue reading Curtain up on second act for Dutch fraudster Stapel: College teacher

Critics of Poldermans’ work baffled by NEJM stance on DECREASE papers

A pair of researchers who have been calling for the retraction of two papers by cardiology researcher Don Poldermans say the New England Journal of Medicine is ~~“not justified”~~ “disappointing” in its refusal to pull the articles.

A little background: Poldermans resigned from Erasmus University in 2011 after having been accused of misconduct. Last week, we reported that the European Heart Journal had issued an expression of concern for a 2001 article on which he was first author.

The New England Journal of Medicine added editor’s notes to two of Poldermans’ articles. But as Larry Husten at Forbes reports, the journal has no intention of retracting the papers: Continue reading Critics of Poldermans’ work baffled by NEJM stance on DECREASE papers

“Wide differences in the memories” prompt expression of concern for Poldermans paper

The European Heart Journal has issued an expression of concern for a ~~2014~~ 2001 paper by Don Poldermans, the Dutch heart researcher who stepped down from his post at Erasmus University after being accused of misconduct.

The article, “Bisoprolol reduces cardiac death and myocardial infarction in high-risk patients as long as 2 years after successful major vascular surgery,” appeared in July and reported data from the DECREASE trial. Poldermans, who left Erasmus in 2011, has acknowledged failing to receive informed consent from some patients in one phase of the DECREASE study but denied having fabricated results.

According to the notice: Continue reading “Wide differences in the memories” prompt expression of concern for Poldermans paper

Scientist threatening to sue PubPeer claims he lost a job offer because of comments

Last month, PubPeer announced that a scientist had threatened to sue the site for defamation. At the time, all PubPeer would say was that the “prospective plaintiff” is a US researcher” who was “aggrieved at the treatment his papers are getting on our site.”

Today, PubPeer revealed the that the prospective plaintiff was Fazlul Sarkar, a distinguished professor of pathology at Wayne State University in Detroit. Sarkar’s attorney, Nicholas Roumel, tells us that Sarkar had a job offer from the University of Mississippi, which rescinded it after seeing comments about his work on PubPeer.

We asked to see the letter rescinding the offer, but Roumel said he couldn’t send it because he and Sarkar are “in the process of making a claim against them.”

We also asked if there was an investigation into Sarkar’s work. Roumel told us:

As for any investigation, federal regulations make such things strictly confidential, so I can’t comment either way.

According to a post on PubPeer: Continue reading Scientist threatening to sue PubPeer claims he lost a job offer because of comments

Researcher who broke into lab up to nine retractions

Karel Bezouška, a researcher who broke into a lab refrigerator to tamper with an investigation into his work, has nine retractions.

Here’s the retraction notice in Biochemistry for 2010’s “Cooperation between Subunits Is Essential for High-Affinity Binding of N-Acetyl-d-hexosamines to Dimeric Soluble and Dimeric Cellular Forms of Human CD69:” Continue reading Researcher who broke into lab up to nine retractions

Former UT-Southwestern cancer researchers faked data in 10 papers: ORI

The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has ruled in a case we’ve been following for nearly two years — and which seems to have been launched after Retraction Watch readers took a careful look at figures from what appeared to be an unrelated case.

Takao Takahashi and Makato Suzuki, both former postdocs at a cancer research center at UT-Southwestern, both “knowingly, intentionally, and recklessly falsified data” in a total of 10 papers, according to the ORI. Takahashi, now at Gifu University in Japan, was responsible for fakery in four papers, while Suzuki, now at Kumamoto University Hospital, also in Japan, falsified data in six.

We reported on the retraction of the four Takahashi papers, and one of the Suzuki papers, in November 2012. At that time, Adi Gazdar, the head of the lab where the researchers worked, told us that
Continue reading Former UT-Southwestern cancer researchers faked data in 10 papers: ORI

Another retraction for Diederik Stapel, this one from Dutch drama festival on “truth and reality”

Here’s a case of art imitating science.

The organizers of a Dutch drama festival have put a halt to a play about the disgraced social psychologist Diederik Stapel, prompting protests from the authors of the skit — one of whom is Stapel himself.

According to an article in NRC Handelsblad: Continue reading Another retraction for Diederik Stapel, this one from Dutch drama festival on “truth and reality”