Category: by reason for retraction

Retracted Seralini GMO-rat study republished

env sci europeA highly controversial — and retracted — 2012 study by Gilles Seralini and colleagues of the effects of genetically modified maize and the Roundup herbicide on rats has been republished.

Retraction Watch readers may recall that the editor of Food and Chemical Toxicology decided to retract the heavily criticized paper because it was “inconclusive.” The editor, A. Wallace Hayes, claimed that this was consistent with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, although we and many others disagreed.

Here’s the original abstract of the Food and Chemical Toxicology paper, which has been cited 55 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge: Continue reading Retracted Seralini GMO-rat study republished

Cancer genetics group retracts three papers for “inappropriate presentation of data”

jbc 620A group of cancer genetics researchers in Italy and the U.S. has retracted three papers in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) after it became aware they had duplicated some bands in their figures.

Here are the three papers: Continue reading Cancer genetics group retracts three papers for “inappropriate presentation of data”

Research technician faked NIH-funded research: ORI

pallansch-cokonis
Melanie Pallansch-Cokonis (via LinkedIn)

Melanie Pallansch-Cokonis, a former research technician at Southern Research Institute, faked data in work funded by NIH contracts and grants, according to the Office of Research Integrity (ORI).

According to the ORI’s case summary, available today in the Federal Register: Continue reading Research technician faked NIH-funded research: ORI

If it smells like pig sh@#, it probably is pig sh@#: A stinky retraction

biores techA group of authors in China has lost their 2011 paper in Bioresource Technology on pig poop because the journal detected a whiff of the familiar in a previously published article by other researchers in the same journal (a major tsk tsk and, well, oops).

The article, “Feasibility of biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of herbal-extraction residues with swine manure,” came from a team at Nanchang University. Except, well, not really, as we’ll see. According to its abstract:
Continue reading If it smells like pig sh@#, it probably is pig sh@#: A stinky retraction

Unusual: HIV vaccine researcher who faked data arrested, faces felony charges

US Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt

Dong Pyou-Han, a former researcher at Iowa State University who spiked rabbit blood samples to make it look as though a potential HIV vaccine was working, was arrested earlier this week on felony charges.

According to the Des Moines Register: Continue reading Unusual: HIV vaccine researcher who faked data arrested, faces felony charges

Rats! Snake mistake sinks paper

Senticolis_triaspis_by_abikeOdyssey
Senticolis triapsis by A Bike Odyssey, under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Check List, the “journal of species lists and distribution,” retracted a paper in February after the authors realized they hadn’t spotted a yellow-red rat snake in a strange range, but rather a green rat snake in its known home.

Here’s the notice for “New distribution and elevation records for the snake Pseudelaphe flavirufa Cope, 1867 (Squamata: Colubridae) in Oaxaca, Mexico,” as written by the authors: Continue reading Rats! Snake mistake sinks paper

Radical geographer doubles up on sexuality paper, earns retraction

ImageRadical geography journal Antipode has retracted a paper on sexuality and geography after discovering that author Martin Zebracki published an almost identical article in a Dutch magazine on which he served as a member of the editorial board.

Here’s the retraction notice for “Right to Space: Moving Towards Sexual Citizenship Beyond the Nation State”: Continue reading Radical geographer doubles up on sexuality paper, earns retraction

Recombinant protein paper retracted for recombining others’ work

biomed research intThe Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology — now BioMed Research International — has retracted a 2012 paper by a group from China who seem really to have admired a related 2007 article by a team from the Scripps Research Institute — and evidently other work, as well.

Here’s the abstract of the now-retracted paper, titled “Stable Plastid Transformation for High-Level Recombinant Protein Expression: Promises and Challenges” (emphasis ours): Continue reading Recombinant protein paper retracted for recombining others’ work

Duplication forces retraction of liver cancer paper

biomed research intBioMed Research International has retracted a 2013 paper after it became clear that it was lifted from another 2013 paper about the same subject by some of the same authors.

According to the retraction notice: Continue reading Duplication forces retraction of liver cancer paper

Journal retracts stem cell study despite objections of most authors

Gerold Feuer in 2008, via Upstate
Gerold Feuer in 2008, via Upstate

The journal Blood has retracted a 2010 paper over the objections of most of its authors, two of whom were found by their university to have used “fraudulent methods” to obtain the data.

We first reported on the case of Gerold Feuer last fall. The State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse fired Feuer in 2010 after determining that he had misused state funds to enrich a company he had founded, HuMurine. A court agreed with many of the university’s claims, but ordered his reinstatement in 2012.

Meanwhile, as we noted last fall: Continue reading Journal retracts stem cell study despite objections of most authors