Category: by journal

Retraction cites “unintended excessive reuse” in commentary — of paper it was praising

rejuvreschcoverWe here at Retraction Watch HQ are always on the lookout for euphemisms for plagiarism (and other misconduct, of course). Among our favorites are “referencing failure” and the journal that allowed researchers to call plagiarism an “approach” to writing.

Here’s a new one that’s sure to do well with voters.

The journal Rejuvenation Research has retracted a commentary for, well, containing too much of the very text it was supposed to be commenting on.

The editorial was by Giorgio Aicardi, of the University of Bologna, in Italy, and the article Aicardi was writing about was titled “Synaptic distributions of GluA2 and PKMζ in the monkey dentate gyrus and their relationships with aging and memory.” That article had been published in the Journal of Neuroscience last year by a group from Mount Sinai in New York.

We’ll let the notice do the explaining: Continue reading Retraction cites “unintended excessive reuse” in commentary — of paper it was praising

Authors hit for image manipulation cycle, but don’t worry, they’ll resubmit retracted paper

j virologyRegrets were had, mistakes were made, but gosh-darn-it, they’re gonna resubmit that retracted paper in the future.

Such is the message from a retraction of “Tsg101 Interacts with Herpes Simplex Virus 1 VP1/2 and Is a Substrate of VP1/2 Ubiquitin-Specific Protease Domain Activity,” from Italian virologists who admitted to copying and pasting their way into the Journal of Virology: Continue reading Authors hit for image manipulation cycle, but don’t worry, they’ll resubmit retracted paper

Updated: Integrity “uncertain,” journal retracts stroke paper

emmcover

Experimental & Molecular Medicine has retracted a 2012 paper on stroke by a group of South Korean researchers after learning that one of the figures in the article was unreliable.

The article was titled “Protective effects of transduced Tat-DJ-1 protein against oxidative stress and ischemic brain injury,” and it came from a team at Hallym University in Chunchon.

According to the retraction notice: Continue reading Updated: Integrity “uncertain,” journal retracts stroke paper

Quorum sensing paper retracted when new study suggests compounds weren’t what they seemed

plos oneThe authors of a paper on quorum sensing — in simple terms, how bacteria “talk” to one another — have retracted it after another group’s findings led them to discover that the mixture they used weren’t what they thought.

The refreshingly detailed retraction notice in PLOS ONE explains: Continue reading Quorum sensing paper retracted when new study suggests compounds weren’t what they seemed

Duplicate submission costs authors two papers on Parkinson’s disease

neuropeptidecoverA group of pharmacology researchers in the UK has lost two papers after submitting effectively identical versions to different journals — and getting them accepted, of course — just a day apart.

The first article appeared on the British Journal of Pharmacology‘s website on July 10, 2012. It was titled “Exendin-4 reverts behavioural and neurochemicaldysfunction in a pre-motor rodent model of Parkinson’s disease with noradrenergic deficit.”

Paper 2 appeared in the journal Neuropeptides in October, although it has an online pub date of August 24, and was titled “Exendin-4 reverses biochemical and behavioral deficits in a pre-motor rodent model of Parkinson’s disease with combined noradrenergic and serotonergic lesions.”

Continue reading Duplicate submission costs authors two papers on Parkinson’s disease

A partial retraction appears for former Salzburg crystallographer who admitted misconduct

j imm april 2013A paper by a crystallographer fired from his university for misconduct has been partially retracted.

Last year, we covered the case of Robert Schwarzenbacher, formerly of Salzburg University. Schwarzenbacher had provided the crystallographic data for a paper in the Journal of Immunology, but those results raised questions with another crystallographer and prompted an investigation by the university.  Schwarzenbacher admitted he’d committed misconduct, although he recanted at one point, and was eventually fired.

Now, the authors have retracted the crystallographic data from the Journal of Immunology paper. Here’s the partial retraction, which is listed as a correction:
Continue reading A partial retraction appears for former Salzburg crystallographer who admitted misconduct

Amid a legal dispute, journal downgrades a retraction to an expression of concern

cellcyclecoverThe journal Cell Cycle is expressing a “note” of concern about a 2012 paper by a former researcher at the University of Minnesota, who has claimed that her mentor at the institution was violating her copyright. It turns out the journal had briefly retracted the paper, but reversed itself with the expression of concern — a curious about-face that, in our experience, often indicates the work of lawyers.

That seems to be the case here, too.

The article, “Chalcone-based small-molecule inhibitors attenuate malignant phenotype via targeting deubiquitinating enzymes,” was already the subject of an erratum, available here:

Continue reading Amid a legal dispute, journal downgrades a retraction to an expression of concern

Cardiology journals retract five Matsubara studies

matsubaraThe American Heart Association (AHA) is retracting five studies by Hiroaki Matsubara, a former Kyoto Prefectural University cardiology researcher, that it had subjected to an expression of concern last year.

Here’s the notice: Continue reading Cardiology journals retract five Matsubara studies

Ulrich Lichtenthaler now up to 12 retractions

industrial corp changeIndustrial and Corporate Change is the site of management professor Ulrich Lichtenthaler’s 12th retraction.

Here’s the notice for “Outward knowledge transfer: the impact of project-based organization on performance,” originally published in 2010: Continue reading Ulrich Lichtenthaler now up to 12 retractions

Author break prompts retraction of bone protein paper

ejpcoverThe European Journal of Pharmacology has — against its will, it would seem — retracted a 2012 paper by a group of Chinese heart researchers embroiled in a what appears to be a rather messy authorship dispute.

The article, “The effect of alendronate on the expression of osteopontin and osteoprotegerin in calcified aortic tissue of the rat,”  came from the Institute of Cardiovascular Disease at Tongji Hospital, part of of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

As the retraction notice states:

Continue reading Author break prompts retraction of bone protein paper