A team of neuroscientists in Japan has lost their 2012 article in Brain Research for duplicating elements of a figure from a paper they’d published earlier that year in another journal.
The article, “Dynamic changes of mitochondrial fission proteins after transient cerebral ischemia in mice,” came from a lab at Okayama University. The last author was Koji Abe. According to the retraction notice:
Continue reading Mitochondrial fission paper falls for fusing data from earlier work
We’ve been following the case of Kenji Okajima, a professor at Nagoya City University in Japan who was suspended for six months following an investigation into work in his lab. Bits of the story — including at least one other university investigation, and scrutiny of Okajima’s colleagues, one of whom was fired — have been dribbling out for almost two years since a retraction notice in the Journal of Neuroscience.
In all, it looks as Nagoya found evidence of misconduct in 19 papers. The Journal of Neuroscience retraction appeared in 2011, and another showed up in the Journal of Immunology last year. Now there are three more: One in Translational Research and two in Blood.
Here’s the notice from Translational Research: Continue reading Kenji Okajima retraction count grows to five
Noriyuki Takai, a gynecologic cancer researcher at Oita University in Japan who retracted three papers last October, has four more retractions, these in Cancer Letters.
All but one of the notices reads as follows: Continue reading Retraction count for gynecologic cancer researcher Takai grows to seven
Hiroaki Matsubara, a leading Japanese cardiology researcher who has had three papers retracted and another five subject to expressions of concern, has resigned from Kyoto Prefectural University, according to local media.
Mainichi Shimbun reports — according to our roughest of (Google) translations — that Kyoto Prefectural University accepted Matsubara’s resignation following an investigation. That investigation — which the university had told us about last year — revealed serious problems with 27 studies.
As we noted last March: Continue reading After three retractions, five expressions of concern, cardiologist Matsubara resigns post
There’s a new retraction in the journal Carbon.
The case didn’t involve a Carbon copy — say, plagiarism or duplication — but rather an instance of fraud in a Japanese university, part of a larger case we covered last August.
Here’s the retraction notice for the paper, “The role of Fe species in the pyrolysis of Fe phthalocyanine and phenolic resin for preparation of carbon-based cathode catalysts,” which appeared in August 2010: Continue reading “False data” forces retraction of Carbon paper co-authored by postdoc who led to PI’s suspension
Hiroaki Matsubara, a prominent cardiologist with five Expressions of Concern and two retractions for his CV, has another retraction.
As Larry Husten, who first reported the retraction at Forbes, notes, the notice for 2009’s “Effects of valsartan on morbidity and mortality in uncontrolled hypertensive patients with high cardiovascular risks: KYOTO HEART Study,” which appeared in the European Heart Journal, says very little: Continue reading Study of blood pressure drug valsartan retracted
An endocrinologist who resigned from the University of Tokyo last March as the university was investigating his work has retracted another paper.
Here’s the notice for the paper by corresponding author Shigeaki Kato and colleagues in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research: Continue reading Shigeaki Kato notches fifth retraction
Royal jelly — “the goo that sustains honeybees destined for royalty” and is touted dubiously for everything “from youthful skin to virility,” as Nature put it — is apparently a hot research topic. So when a Retraction Watch tipster sent us a corrigendum that seemed to have done something we hadn’t seen before — retract a single figure, without saying why — we figured we’d check it out.
Here’s the text of the corrigendum: Continue reading Royal jelly figure flushed: Author removes figure from 2002 paper
Keeping up with the various investigations into the activities of Yoshitaka Fujii — the assumed record holder for retractions by a single author, with 172 likely — can be a challenge. Between the journals pulling his papers and the institutions looking into his misconduct, it’s hard to keep everything straight.
But we have a new report, from a past employer, that makes for interesting reading and helps tie up some loose ends. The document is from Tsukuba University, where Fujii worked more than a decade ago when questions about the propriety of his findings first surfaced. Continue reading Retraction record broken, again: University report should up Fujii total to 183
The Circulation Journal, the official organ of the Japanese Circulation Society, is retracting two papers by Hiroaki Matsubara, lead researcher on the Kyoto Heart Study, for unreliable findings. Matsubara’s institution, Kyoto Prefectural University, confirmed to us last March that it was investigating the prominent cardiologist.
The work of Matsubara came into question last year when the American Heart Association issued an expression of concern for five papers the society published in its journals. Larry Husten, at Forbes/CardioBrief, reports today that the two retracted articles were “Effects of Valsartan on Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality in High-Risk Hypertensive Patients With New-Onset Diabetes Mellitus: Sub-Analysis of the KYOTO HEART Study,” published in September 2012; and “Enhanced cardiovascular protective effects of valsartan in high-risk hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy: Sub-analysis of the KYOTO HEART study,” which appeared in March 2011.
The retraction notice for the most recent paper states: Continue reading Journal retracts two papers by Japanese cardiologist under investigation