Category: elsevier

Neural Networks retracts rerun

neuralnetworksIrony alert: If you’re going to write articles about recurrent neural networks, make sure they don’t, well, recur.

The journal Neural Networks has retracted a 2012 paper by a group of researchers from Spain for publishing what amounted to a repeat of a 2011 article in a different but closely related journal. Scientific publishing, alas, is not like Hollywood, where remakes of movies and TV shows is not only acceptable, it seems to be the only flavor producers are willing to taste.

The article was titled “Hopf Bifurcation Stability in Hopfield Neural Networks” — Hopf, for those keeping score at home, is Eberhard Hopf, a famous (and politically controversial) mathematician and founder of something called ergodic theory — and it came from scientists at the University of La Laguna, in the Canary Islands.

According to the notice: Continue reading Neural Networks retracts rerun

Leading immunologist retracts paper that duplicated 2004 PNAS study

cellular immunologyUniversity of Glasgow professor Foo Yew “Eddy” Liew, a Fellow of the Royal Society, has retracted a paper in Cellular Immunology because it duplicated one of his earlier papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Here’s the notice for “Expression and function of Toll-like receptor on T cells:”
Continue reading Leading immunologist retracts paper that duplicated 2004 PNAS study

Virtual reality researcher notches fifth retraction

techforcchangeA researcher who studies the use of virtual reality and other media and who has already had four retractions has retracted another paper.

The 2007 paper by Dong Hee Shin, then of Penn State University, appeared in Technological Forecasting and Social Change and was titled “Potential user factors driving adoption of IPTV. What are customers expecting from IPTV?” It has been cited 24 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.

According to the notice: Continue reading Virtual reality researcher notches fifth retraction

“Administrative error on the part of the author” that led to duplicated text prompts retraction

techforcchangeWhen you think of an administrative error, what comes to mind? Failure to tell an employee that the reason he didn’t receive a paycheck in July was because he was fired in June? Putting the wrong address on your business cards?

You’d probably have to go pretty far down the list before you reached something like this: “I used text from one of my previously published articles in a second paper.” And yet … Continue reading “Administrative error on the part of the author” that led to duplicated text prompts retraction

Journal of Neuroscience retracts plasticity paper for “substantial data misrepresentation”

jneuroscicoverThe Journal of Neuroscience has retracted a 2012 paper by a group from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet for what appears to be research misconduct. But more on that in a moment.

The article, “The Existence of FGFR1-5-HT1A Receptor Heterocomplexes in Midbrain 5-HT Neurons of the Rat: Relevance for Neuroplasticity,” came from the lab of Kjell Fuxe, whose interests include Parkinson’s disease, addiction and depression. The first and second authors, Dasiel Oscar Borroto-Escuela and Wilber Romero-Fernandez, are listed as being post-docs in the lab.

According to the notice: Continue reading Journal of Neuroscience retracts plasticity paper for “substantial data misrepresentation”

Double submission leads to retraction of probability paper — and a publishing ban

jtbWhat are the chances of successfully duplicating publication in the Journal of Theoretical Probability? Not too high, it seems.

A pair of South Korean authors have gotten a five-year ban from the journal for double-publishing a paper in the math literature.

The article, “Convergence of Weighted Sums for Arrays of Negatively Dependent Random Variables and Its Applications,” was written by Jong-Il Baek and Sung-Tae Park of Wonkwang University in IkSan.

According to the retraction notice: Continue reading Double submission leads to retraction of probability paper — and a publishing ban

Forbidden fruit: apple pomace paper retracted for plagiarism

foodbioprodprocThe journal Food and Bioproducts Processing has retracted a 2012 article on apple pomace — the remnants of a pressed fruit — by a group from India.

The reason? Turns out the paper “Utility of apple pomace as a substrate for various products: A review,” fell a little to close to the tree.

Here’s the retraction notice: Continue reading Forbidden fruit: apple pomace paper retracted for plagiarism

Figure misuse leads to retraction of wound healing paper

biochemengjrnA group of researchers from India and China has lost a 2012 article in the Biochemical Engineering Journal for lifting a figure from a previously published article from another team of investigators. Evidently, caught red-handed, they haven’t copped to the caper.

The article was titled “Purification and characterization of organic solvent and detergent stable protease isolated from marine Saccharopolyspora sp. A9: Application of protease for wound healing.” According to the retraction notice: Continue reading Figure misuse leads to retraction of wound healing paper

Like pulling teeth? Dental implant papers retracted for duplication

jomscoverA group of Brazilian dental researchers has lost two 2012 papers for duplication — twice the typical body count for such situations.

The two articles appeared in the Journal of Orthodontics and the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery about four months apart.

The first, from the JOMS, “Selective Use of Hand and Forearm Muscles During Bone Screw Insertion: A Natural Torque Meter,” was published online Aug. 30 — just about the time the Journal of Orthodontics was accepting the duplicate submission.

As the JOMS retraction notice states: Continue reading Like pulling teeth? Dental implant papers retracted for duplication

Infant formula paper smells like salami, retracted

semperinatolcoverSeminars in Perinatology has retracted a 2002 paper by a group of authors in France and Belgium who’d used a previously published article (their own) as a template for the benighted work.

The article, “Nitrogen utilization and bone mineralization in very low birth weight infants fed partially hydrolyzed preterm formula,” by Jean-Charles Picaud and colleagues, appeared in December 2002. But it was based largely on this May 2001 paper in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, titled “Nutritional Efficacy of Preterm Formula With a Partially Hydrolyzed Protein Source: A Randomized Pilot Study.”

According to the retraction notice:

Continue reading Infant formula paper smells like salami, retracted